


Skaifaya - Real Baby Marie

by Cairlinn



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Cute, Family Bonding, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 34,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23293846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cairlinn/pseuds/Cairlinn
Summary: This is a re-write of Skaifaya with Marie being 18 months old.Total fluff ensured when Lexa adopts Marie :)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1 – A baby from the stars

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Skaifaya](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11997591) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



Lexa had arrived in TonDC a few days ago. The messengers who had brought word to Polis about the thing which had fell from the stars, had brought worrying news to the capitol. It seemed that the invaders who had fallen right into Trikru merely consisted of untrained youths. But they spoke the tongue of their enemies and from what the reports had told her, they may be posing a danger to their people.

She had not been in TonDC for some time now, although she had grown up around these woods. The reunion with her former mentor, now general Anya, had been brisk. She knew that the older woman must have taken her banishment from Polis to the outskirts of Trikru lands as a personal insult.

It felt refreshing to be back in these woods now and Lexa rejoiced in the ability to leave the watching eyes of her people and roam through the dense forests alone again.

She was being updated on the sightings of the invaders daily and she had given order to try and capture one or two of them for questioning purposes. She herself had wandered closer to their camp, careful not to be seen. What she had observed there, was confusing to her.

From the way these invaders acted, they were nothing more than wild children. Untrained and unkept. Alone in a world they obviously knew nothing about. It was more than obvious that they had absolutely no clue on how to survive. She wondered if it would actually be necessary at all for her to send warriors to them and kill them, before they could become a threat.

What had confused her even more though, were the unmistakable wails of a small child from the camp. She had not been able to get close enough to catch a glimpse of the baby that must be with them. But it had seemed as if most of the invaders had actually been upset about the baby’s continued crying. She was puzzled why none of them seemed able to calm the baby.

One of their patrols had attacked a boy crossing the border to the Mountain the previous day and the invaders were obviously on high alert. So, Lexa had been forced to retreat before she could be detected. 

~ ~ ~

On the same night, Lexa was roaming through the forest again. She had increased the amounts of patrols circling around the camp of the invaders, to make sure that the invaders would not be able to make their way to the Mountain.

It seemed that one of their patrols had run in with a few of the invaders ahead of her. Lexa hurried her steps slightly.

She heard the trap being triggered ahead of her, before she got a clear view. She also heard a grunt, presumably of whoever had just walked into one of their traps, before the shrill wails of a baby resonated as well.

Lexa’s brows furrowed. It had not seemed as if the invaders had taken the baby out of their camp yet, but the sounds were unmistakable. None of the scouts had been able to tell her anything specific thus far, just that they also had heard the signs of a baby being there.

She broke through the tree line, just in time to bark out an order to the warrior who was approaching the trap.

Lexa walked slower to it, just as the warrior obediently stepped back, lowering his dagger as well. Her own hand hovered above the handle of her dagger strapped to her thigh.

A young man had walked into their trap and the blood bubbling from his mouth easily revealed his wounds to be fatal.

Right next to the trap, the baby was standing on obviously wobbly legs.

Lexa took a closer look at the toddler. She recognized that it probably was a girl and she could not be older than a summer or two at most. Her little face was still round and her skin, although pale, had the rosiness of a baby. It was slightly red now from crying. Blonde bouncy locks framed her little face.

The very moment, the child looked at her and Lexa’s green eyes connected with the clear grey eyes of the young girl, she stopped crying instantly.

Lexa looked down at the child for a moment longer, unsure on how to proceed. She had given the order to her people that those who could not be questioned, ought to be killed. But the girl seemed so young, that it was possible that she could not yet speak at all.

She felt something within her heart clench, as the young child’s grey eyes left her face and returned to the killed young man in the trap, pulling at the leg of his trousers lightly with a chubby fist. Her chin quivered for a second, when there was no response, she began to cry again in shrill obviously desperate wails, as tear drops ran down her round cheeks.

On some level, the toddler seemed to understand that there would be no response anymore from the young man, she was trying to cling to and she let go a moment later, letting go of the support which had allowed her to remain standing.

Before Lexa could catch on to what her instincts made her do, she had already made a quick step in the little girl’s direction, as the child had begun to wobble precariously on her little legs and just before she could fall, she had reached out and steadied her.

The bright grey eyes which connected with hers a second later, were still swimming in tears and a few large tears spilled over as the child turned the slightest bit to face her, stretching out her chubby arms to be picked up.

Lexa let her hand finally fall from the handle of her dagger and swept the child into her arms, giving into her instincts fully now.

The child was innocent, she did not deserve to die just like that. No matter if the invaders indeed would pose a threat to them or not, the little girl in her arms clearly was too young to be a threat to anyone.

She was surprised slightly that the child quitted down immediately within her arms and she only adjusted her grip on her small body, as she felt the girl’s chubby fists latch onto her coat.

When Lexa felt the child shiver slightly, she slowly without putting the girl down, opened her coat with one hand, encasing the girl in the material as well.

Her thoughts were turmoiled, as she made her way back to TonDC. She was not sure if the child had fallen asleep or not, but the girl was not moving an inch. If she could not feel her moist little puffs of breaths hit her throat, she would have begun to worry that the girl had been wounded away and died within her arms.

Something she could not pinpoint yet, felt like there was an instant deep connection between herself and the little child. And although Lexa could not explain why, but holding the girl now was feeling right in a way that nothing else had in a long time.

She wondered if the warrior she had called back, would have indeed killed the small girl. But Lexa shoed the thought from her mind, she had basically saved the young girl’s life and for some reason she was deeply grateful that she had been there in this moment.

She would figure out later, what would be happening to the baby now.


	2. Chapter 2 – A decision is made

The way back to TonDC passed in silence. The little baby in her arms had not moved even once. Lexa did not know if the baby was underweight or not, she had never carried such a young body before. Darkness had already settled around the woods until Lexa reached the village.

As she was carrying the little girl still encased into her coat, the baby was not easily recognizable and no one intercepted her way, before Lexa disappeared from view within the commander’s tent.

She carefully divested herself of her coat, letting the piece of clothing drop to the ground, while she tried to hold the little girl as still as possible. It seemed that the toddler had fallen asleep within her arms and she did not wish to wake her. 

Lexa carefully placed the baby onto her bed without jostling her. She feared that she had failed in that, when the little girl immediately began to move a little once she touched the mattress. But the child just turned around, snuggling into the soft fur beneath her with a little sigh, before she quitted down again.

Now that they had left the darkness of the woods, Lexa could finally really take a look at the child.

The girl truly was small and she guessed that her estimation of her age between one or maximal two years was correct as well. She had bright blonde hair, which was spilled around her head in soft shining curls, giving her almost a sort of halo as she was lying on the bed. One hand had found her way to her face and she was sucking on one of her thumbs as she slept. The clothing of the girl was dirty and clearly showed that no one had really taken good care of her.

She wondered again where the child’s parents were. She hypothesized that they were not with the invaders at all, otherwise she could not explain why the girl appeared to be so unkept. Not just her clothes were dirty on closer inspection, the whole girl truthfully looked filthy.

She remembered that the child had been crying for the whole time where she had observed the camp of the invaders and Lexa began to wonder if the child may be sick as well. In the very least, she would be bound to be hungry.

Lexa was unsure on how to proceed now. She was not prepared to take over the care of such a young child. She did not possess any experience with children this age. The nightbloods she had mentored in the capitol were all several years older than this little baby was.

She stepped back from the bed and crossed through the tent, sending Gustus who was guarding the entrance to fetch Indra and Anya for her. Both had experience with children and she hoped that they would be willing to help her. She would not order them to help her, but she was more hoping for a personal favour.

Lexa returned to the side of the bed, sitting down on the edge as she waited for the two older women to arrive. The dip of the mattress must have jostled the little girl and a moment later her grey eyes fluttered open.

The moment the baby recognized that she was in unknown surroundings, the girl’s small body tensed up visibly and her grey eyes wildly searched around herself, still sucking on one of her thumbs, while she clutched the fur tighter into her chubby fist, until her gaze fell on Lexa sitting next to her.

“You are safe” Lexa immediately tried to sooth the little girl in a gentle tone, deliberately choosing to directly speak in English with her. None of their scouts had heard the invaders speak any other language. The girl was so young though, that she was not sure if she could speak at all yet or not.

The girl’s eyes remained glued to her face, but she did not remove her thumb from her mouth.

“Can you tell me your name?” Lexa probed the child kindly, wanting to find out if she could speak at all.

The child mumbled something around her thumb in her mouth, completely indistinguishable for Lexa.

Lexa’s mouth curved into a smile. She had not understood the girl’s name, but she was at least trying to communicate with her. The girl was visibly tired though and Lexa doubted that she would be getting a better answer for now.

Indra arrived a moment later at the commander’s tent, hovering in the middle of it with a confused expression “ _Commander”_ the dark-skinned woman addressed the younger woman in a neutral tone.

Lexa looked over at the woman. She held a great respect for her and Indra had known her since she was discovered as a nightblood. “I did not ask you here as my general” Lexa began in a kind tone. Her eyes shortly flitted back onto the bed, the baby seemed interested at Indra’s arrival, so Lexa indicated for Indra to step closer to the bed.

The dark-skinned warrior followed the mute order with a slight frown, obviously unsure on what to expect now.

Lexa could spot the moment Indra realized that there was a small child in her leader’s bed by the slight widening of her dark eyes. Her expression has not been especially friendly or welcoming either.

The baby seemed to have decided that she was warry of the unknown woman now, reacting completely different than she had to seeing Lexa for the first time and she pulled at the furs under her, until she could hide her face behind them.

Anya arrived in that moment, before Lexa could explain and the general immediately stepped closer to the bed. Her sharp features did not flash with surprise though “ _It is true then_ ” she commented in a cautious tone.

“ _True_?” Indra asked in rising confusion.

Lexa could only guess that word was already spreading through the village that she had brought a baby from the invaders. “ _A patrol had encountered her with one of the invaders. The boy had stepped into a trap and died”_ she explained quickly.

 _“Why is she alive?”_ Indra questioned in obvious suspicion; her expression was still anything but welcoming.

Lexa supressed an eye roll at the question _“She is a mere baby. She does not deserve death”_ she answered in a slightly sharper tone. If she had found a baby among warriors from Ice Nation, she would have decided the same way.

Indra wrinkled her nose as she inspected what was visible of the baby “ _She is filthy”_ she commented in disgust.

Lexa nodded and hesitated for a moment. Since she had stepped up as the commander, she had never asked anyone a personal favour and she was unsure how to ask for one now without both women taking her words as an order. “ _I know nothing about the care of a baby…_ ” she began, letting her words trail off as she looked at both of them.

Anya raised a brow of that _“You are planning on taking care of her yourself?”_ she asked in astonishment.

 _“I am sure one of the families here would be willing to…”_ Indra tried to offer, but Lexa silenced her with a resolute shake of her head.

The commander stayed silent for a long moment. How could she explain reasonably that she felt that it was the right thing to keep the little girl with herself?

Many believed that the commanders were foreseen by fate. Could her encounter with this baby have been fated as well?

“ _I feel … connected to her”_ she finally settled on, deciding that she could trust both of them with this, as she gently let one of her hands rest on the mound child’s body formed under the furs now.

Anya’s expression easily showed that she did not regard the idea that Lexa could be the one raising the baby as a good idea, but the general also knew the young leader well enough. She knew the burning within her green eyes. Lexa had already decided and nothing would be able to sway her mind now. She was slightly confused as to why Lexa was obviously asking her for help now, but she also knew that she would never deny her.

Anya commented after a mute moment of contemplation “ _Bathing and feeding her should suffice for now”_.

Indra seemed to have decided that she would help as well _“I will organize clean clothes for her. And diapers”._

 _“Diapers?”_ Lexa echoed, voice an octave higher in shocked astonishment. She had not even thought about this for a second.

Anya snorted slightly under her breath _“She cannot be older than two summers. Probably younger. She will still need diapers”._

Lexa panickily wondered just what exactly she had gotten herself into?


	3. Chapter 3 – “Hello, Marie”

While Indra had left the tent to organise clothing for their little guest, Anya also left for a moment to order for a bath to be prepared and just to be safe, ask for a healer to look at the baby as well, sharing the worry that such an unkept child could be sick. 

Lexa in the meantime tried to coax the baby out from under the furs again. She had her hand still resting gently on the little lump under it, indicating where the child was hiding.

“We are alone now again, little one” she tried to convince the girl to let go in a gentle tone, rubbing over her hidden body slightly, hoping that although the child may not understand her words, her tone could sooth her. 

Lexa could still see the girl’s little fist being clenched into the threads tightly. 

“Can you show me your cute little smile, please, little one?” Lexa tried a different tactic, speaking in a more cheerful tone. When there was no immediate response, Lexa lightly tugged on the fur, saying an easy “Let go, little one” in a soft tone, only hinting at a command.

It took a short moment, but the girl’s chubby fist loosened its grip and very slowly, she pulled the fur down from her face, revealing an unsure expression. Her grey eyes lightened up a little though as she realized that there indeed was just Lexa and no one else anymore now.

She slowly stopped sucking on her thumb as well, taking the hand away from her pouty mouth and obviously a little intimidated now, she began to play with one of her locks hanging into her roundish face.

“Thank you, little one” Lexa acknowledged that the girl had listened to her order, praising her enthusiastically. She placed one hand on the child’s abdomen. The baby only seemed to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt and as Lexa let her fingers stretch out over the girl’s body, she could already feel the girl’s ribs.

The child suddenly began to giggle under her fingers as if she was ticklish and when Lexa let her forefinger ghost over the girl’s side, her giggling turned into shrill laughter.

Her body was squirming under Lexa’s fingers, until Lexa stopped tickling her and her grey eyes were shining with mirth, once she could breathe again and she smiled at Lexa.

Lexa looked down at the girl with a gentle expression. The baby’s expression was so innocent and pure, she was truly glad now that she had ordered the warrior to retreat. The child was definitely no threat to them and she would make sure that no one would be a threat to the girl either. “Do you have a name, little one?” Lexa tried to encourage the baby to speak, hoping that she indeed could.

Unfortunately, the girl did not let out anything beside a few senseless noises, impossible for Lexa to decipher her name.

Lexa barely had enough time to react, before the child’s expression seemed to flip around completely. Gone was the little smile and only a second later, she began to wail shrilly, protesting against something Lexa could not identify.

“Oh, what’s bothering you, little one?” Lexa tried to get an answer from the girl, but her despair seemed to be too deep to react and listen now and she only seemed to cry a little harder in response.

Carefully, Lexa gathered the wailing baby into her arms, walking through the tent with the girl in her arms and rocking her slightly, hoping to calm her down again.

Her attempts all appeared futile though and the baby continued to scream in what sounded to Lexa agony.

Lexa gave up on trying to calm the girl by rocking her a few moments later. She wished that the girl could just tell her what was upsetting her, but it was obvious that the child’s speech was not developed at all yet.

She changed her grip on the girl and as she changed the position of her little body in her arms, she caught the unmistakable smell from the child.

“Your diapers must be soiled” she assessed in a low tone, looking at the girl with sympathy within her green eyes and feeling a little panic course through her mind. She had never had to take care of a baby and had never bathed a toddler or changed a diaper of course.

She guessed that it would make sense to undress the little girl before her bath was prepared, she would need to naked anyway for it.

Lexa hesitated for a moment, unsure on where to best place the baby to undress her. She guessed that undressing her on her bed was a rather bad idea. She still thought that the blank surface of the table would be too hard to place a baby onto it. A fur could just be washed clean again after all.

In the last moment, Lexa decided against a fur and took up a simple blanket, trying to spread it onto the table, while holding the little body to her chest with one arm. It proved to be slightly complicated though, as the girl was still crying and not exactly keeping still.

Carefully, Lexa placed the girl onto her back on the table, making sure to keep one hand beneath her little head, before she fully placed her down.

“We’ll be taking care of you now, little one” Lexa tried to somehow calm the girl, hoping that she would at least listen on some level “You will be feeling better in no time, little one”. She really could only hope that the child was not seriously ill with something, or her promise would be no more than empty words.

Undressing the girl proved more complicated than Lexa could have imagined as well. The girl was not working with her at all, still wailing loudly and honestly, the sound was beginning to unnerve her. Unexpectedly, Lexa spotted a little name tag on the baby’s shirt, saying “Marie”.

“Hello, Marie” Lexa tried to distract the child in a forcefully cheerful tone, but to no avail. 

Once she had managed to get the girl’s clothing off though, it was obvious immediately why the girl was crying and probably had already been inconsolable with the invaders before.

The invaders had definitely not taken good care of the child. They must have forgotten to take care of her diapers in time as well. The child had developed a rash and ugly red sore.

Lexa could only imagine that Marie must have been in horrible pain for some time already now. She either could not have voiced to the people who had taken care of her what was wrong or the invaders had absolutely no idea on how to help her.

“Ssshhh…” Lexa tried to sooth the girl again. She had dropped the girl’s dirty clothing together with her soiled diaper on the ground. With the smell the things emitted, she doubted that they could be cleaned again and would probably just have to be burned. She wrapped the blanket around the little girl’s body, taking her back into her arms.

“We’ll clean you up in a moment, little one” she tried to settle the girl “The healers will have something for you as well” she added. She knew that the baby did not understand her, but she knew that they needed to learn by listening.

~ ~ ~

Lexa was internally relieved once Anya returned to the tent together with a few handmaidens, carrying a large pail with streaming water, some fresh cloths and other things needed for now.

“Someone decided to show her face again” Anya tried to speak up against the girl’s upset wails to no avail.

“She is in pain” Lexa explained calmly, ignoring the girl’s loud cries and simply continuing to rock her.

“Has she spoken?” Anya asked, stepping closer to Lexa to take a look at the girl. She had not seen her before at all after all, as most of the child had been hidden beneath the fur.

Lexa shook her head “I would not call that speech yet. Her name is Marie though. Her shirt has a name tag”. She had heard the child babble more than actually talk. It would be pointless to try and question the girl on anything, she was way too young to be able to tell them any information of value to them.

Indra returned to the tent a few moments later as well. While Marie had not shown any clear reaction to Anya’s presence and her voice, the child for some reason shrieked even shriller when Indra proclaimed to have found some things she had kept from her own daughter.

The girl had stopped crying for a short moment, looking at the dark-skinned woman with wide eyes, before she had begun to wail again, trying to turn away from her completely.

“She seems shy” Anya commented with a slight frown. She could understand though why Lexa had decided against killing her, although she was from the invaders, she was truly nothing more than an innocent toddler and there was no point in killing a baby. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up, mmh?” Lexa addressed the girl, trying to distract her from Indra’s presence.

Although the baby was obviously not comfortable at all with Indra’s presence, the dark-skinned warrior remained within the commander’s tent at first. Trying to explain against the child’s upset wailing, that the temperature of the water needed to only be lukewarm for such a young girl. She left though, when it became obvious that the girl would not quite down within her presence.

Miraculously, the girl’s cries decreased in volume several notches once Indra had left.

Anya remained behind, trying to assist Lexa in bathing the little girl.

It was obvious as well, that bathing Marie was anything but comfortable to her and she began to cry harder again as Lexa tried to clean the inflamed skin. Lexa’s green eyes were troubled and she continued to sooth the child in apology, knowing that she was only increasing the little child’s agony for now, but also aware that it needed to be done.

Once they had together cleaned the little girl and the child was dried off as well, Nyko entered the tent. He had already been told by Indra what the girl’s problem was.

Nyko had experience in dealing with such young children and he seemed to be able to control the girl with little ease, distracting her from his examination with little tickles.

Lexa watched the man deal with the girl with surprise. “ _Her stomach seems a little bloated, as if she had not gotten enough food recently. She is not malnourished though. Beside the rash and sores, she seems healthy”_ Nyko assessed.

Lexa nodded in relieve. Making sure that the girl would be fed well from now on, should not be too hard. She let Nyko leave again, once the man had instructed her on what creams the child would need for now until her skin had healed again.

“Do you even know how fasten a diaper?” Anya asked in a critical tone, watching her former second, crossing her arms over her chest.

Lexa raised her brow at the older woman “It cannot be that hard, can it?” she retorted easily.

Anya snorted under her breath in clear amusement “Let us see your talent then”. 


	4. Chapter 4 – Little charmer

After a few minutes of trying to fasten the cloth around the girl’s body, Lexa unfortunately had to admit that she truly had no clue as how to get this thing to stay around the baby’s body.

The blonde toddler had been surprisingly calm during the whole endeavour so far, lying still and simply watching both of them with her wide grey eyes.

“If you want her to eat before she falls asleep, you’ll need to get finished soon” Anya observed from the side-lines, arms still crossed over her chest and although she was not outright laughing at her, Lexa knew fairly well that the general must be finding this whole situation amusing to no end.

Lexa breathed out a silent sigh, her frustration at herself rising with each failed attempt. Anya was right though; the girl had begun to suck on her thumb again and her eyes seemed to droop and her long lashes were fluttering close every once in a while.

“Alright, show me how it is done, then” Lexa finally resigned for now. Although Nyko has assessed that the child was not truly malnourished yet, it was still obvious that she had not been fed sufficiently in the recent past and she did not want her to go hungry.

The baby must still have noticed Lexa retreating and she wiggled her arms into her direction, clearly not wanting her to get out of sight. Lexa was not sure of how much the toddler actually understood them.

“I’ll be right here, little one” Lexa tried to assure the baby in a soft tone, standing next to the table in a way that the girl could still clearly see her and she could also take a hold of one of her flailing little arms, making it a little easier for Anya, as the toddler quieted down immediately at the contact.

“Showing something for you to learn would have entailed for you to watch" Anya remarked a moment later, voice laced with a hint of sharpness.

Lexa looked at the older woman truthfully a little dumbfounded. Anya had already fastened the cloth as a diaper and she indeed had not even taken a single glance, instead just cooing at the little girl.

Anya snorted under her breath and it suspiciously sounded as if she was covering up a laugh.

Lexa ignored the general's clearly judging stares for now, instead she took the baby’s other arm, carefully pulling her up into a sitting position. She had seen the girl standing, fair enough with support, but she should be able to sit without assistance.

Nyko had assessed from the child’s few already visible teeth, that she indeed was around a summer old, definitely not two yet. He had warned her to watch the girl’s eating habits as she was expected to continue teething.

“Time to eat now then, little one” Lexa addressed the little girl in a kind tone, taking a small step away from the girl, wanting to see if she indeed managed to remain upright. She did not know if telling the girl everything she wanted her to do was actually making any sense, but she guessed that the girl could learn like this with time and it was obvious that she was paying attention to her surroundings.

The baby did not seem pleased though with the commander moving away and her expression morphed from a slight smile to a grimace of protest and she immediately reached out her little hands demandingly towards the retreating woman, letting out a loud protesting noise.

“Well, she may not know words yet, but she can make herself understood” Anya commented with a slight frown. She had a sister, several years younger than her and she had helped raising her and she could still vividly remember how she had been as a baby. It would take all of them weeks to try and learn to decipher the child’s babbles.

Marie was looking at the general now with wide grey eyes, as if she was truly looking at her for the first time. The child tilted her head to the side and her grey eyes seemed to narrow down on Anya, who simply held the girl’s stare. Marie had stopped in her flailing to try and get Lexa back to her side and now seemed unsure of what to do next.

Lexa was ready to step in, but caught Anya giving her a sign behind her back to stay where she was for now. The commander was confused what her former mentor wanted to achieve with the child, but she trusted her experience with children for now.

After a rather long moment of silence, Marie seemed to have settled on another tactic, letting out a squealing shriek, more a laugh than anything else, as she fully let her arms drop back to her side. One of her hands took hold of one of her feet, while the other found its way back to her hair, seemingly twirling one lock around her little forefinger, all the while looking at Anya with an innocent cute expression, while she lightly began to rock herself.

To Lexa’s surprise, Anya first snorted under her breath before the sound morphed into a slight laugh “You’re a charmer, little one” she commented, finally reaching out with her hands and taking the girl up under the child’s armpits.

It was still obvious that Marie would have preferred to be within Lexa’s arms as her grey eyes immediately searched for the other woman behind the general. Once she had found her and gave her a shy smile, revealing her small front teeth, she found interest in the general’s long hair though, beginning to pull on one of the braids she could reach.

 _“What are you trying to achieve with this?”_ Lexa finally asked, as the general carried Marie through the length of the tent. Although the child seemed content to play with Anya’s hair for now, the toddler still made sure not lose complete sight of Lexa.

 _“You do not want her to learn that you are her sole caretaker”_ Anya easily explained _“She may not like it, but you cannot be there for her always. You have obviously decided to try and raise her._ ”

As Lexa made to protest, Anya shook her head _“I can see it in your eyes. You have already decided, if you have acknowledged or not. You want her to stay”._

Lexa contemplated her former mentor’s words for a moment. She was slightly annoyed that the older woman had seen through her so easily, before she herself had even really thought about what all of this could mean for her now.

 _“You are the commander, Lexa_ ” Anya reminded her, tone much softer now. She had not called her former second by her name in some time now, but this now had nothing to do with their political standings. _“It will not be easy and you certainly will need help, thus she needs to learn right from the beginning, that others will also take care of her”._

Lexa finally nodded, seeing the truth in Anya’s words. She had not really thought about it yet what she wanted to happen with the baby, but she had immediately denied Indra’s offer to seek for a family who would take over the toddler’s care.

“Agh … I’ll take back the charmer” Anya exclaimed a moment later with a hint of annoyance in her tone, as she tried to gently pry the girl’s chubby fist lose from the braid the girl had been pulling on now with surprising strength.

Lexa chuckled under her breath, stretching out her hands towards the little girl and Marie immediately lost interest in Anya, turning within the woman’s arms as far as she could and trying to bend over towards Lexa’s waiting hands.

 _“Whatever this is”_ Anya observed, finally handing the little girl over to her young leader “ _she must feel connected to you already”._

Lexa simply nodded, cooing at the girl with a kind smile, eliciting a pleased giggled from Marie, before the girl began to clap her little hands together in what appeared to be joy.

“Alright, back to getting you fed” Lexa said a second later, walking over to a chair with the child and sitting down. Getting Marie to turn around within her arms, so that the child was facing the table proved to not be to the child’s liking though.

“She certainly has a strong will already” Anya commented with a slight snort as the girl gave a loud wail of protest. 

“You must be hungry, little one” Lexa tried to reason with the girl, trying to get her attention to the table. She tried to stretch out towards a cup with milk, but she could not reach it with the child in her arms.

Anya shook her head at her former second. Lexa may share an emotional attachment to the girl already, but it was painfully obvious that the younger woman had no clue yet as to how to efficiently handle such a young child. She would try to be there though to help her. She wondered how twisted fate sometimes could be, she could have never expected for a mere toddler who had fallen from the stars to bring the two of them back closer to each other.


	5. Chapter 5 – First dinner together

Once Anya had stepped in and shoved the things Lexa needed a little closer to the baby and the commander, the little girl seemed to instantly forget her protest and her large grey eyes sparked with interest as she inspected the new objects right in front of her.

Lexa thought that the somewhat unidentifiable mushy thing which had been prepared for the baby did not look appealing at all. The girl did not seem to have more than a few teeth yet, so she guessed that this consistency would be the easiest for the baby to eat.

In stark contrast to not even wanting to face the table before, the little girl now stretched out towards the table, trying to reach the objects in front of her.

Lexa had quickly wrapped an arm around the child’s midriff, securing her in place before the toddler could fall down from the chair.

Marie tried to get out of the grasp holding her back and she gave a protesting squeal, as she tried to reach out even further.

Lexa was not completely sure, but it seemed as if she had shortly heard the little girl’s stomach giving a resonating growl at the sight of food. She had no idea if the invaders had food with them, but their scouts had seen them attempt to hunt. Judging from the way the girl’s hygiene had obviously been severely neglected, she highly doubted that the child had been fed well either, so it was no wonder that the child was hungry.

“Let me help you, little one” Lexa tried to appease the girl, increasing her hold on the girl a little to stop her from trying to move away. She reached around the girl with her other hand, trying to spoon up a little of the mushy food which had been prepared for her new charge.

Anya sat down opposite of the two, watching Lexa slowly feeding the little blonde girl. The young woman still appeared slightly awkward at feeding the child and the results were definitely sloppy. The toddler did not seem to mind though that Lexa had troubles in homing the spoon and soon enough it seemed as if as much of the food the girl had eaten, was also smeared around her little mouth.

The general slightly snorted under her breath as the little girl kept on smiling at her in between waiting for Lexa to feed her more. Now that she being taken care of, the child seemed to be much more patient. She must have been taught some basic behaviour rules before by someone.

Lexa managed to let the girl drink some of the milk without spilling half of the content of the cup in the process, but just by keeping a firm hold on the cup, holding it steady while the little girl drank down the milk almost greedily.

“Do you still feel hungry, little one?” Lexa asked the child after a moment, putting down the now empty cup.

Marie was just mutely looking at the woman and almost in the very same moment, she let out a deep yawn.

Lexa looked down at the girl with an amused expression, letting her grip on the child loosen slightly. Marie immediately used her regained ability to move, to turn around within the woman’s grasp, almost curling together on her lap.

“Seems like someone needs to be put to bed now” Anya assessed. She doubted that it would take long for the toddler to drift off to sleep if she found a comfortable position. It would be better to put her to sleep in bed, so that the child could immediately get a proper rest.

Lexa nodded towards her former mentor, although she would not have had anything about letting the child dose on her lap for now. The baby must be feeling comfortable with her to relax that quickly around her.

Lexa carefully carried the little, now obviously sleepy, girl from the table over back to her bed, sitting down on the edge of the mattress as she transferred the toddler from her arms onto the soft surface.

As soon as she tried to place Marie onto the bed, the little girl seemed to get more awake again and her grey eyes stared up the woman mutely.

Lexa gently pulled a fur over the child’s small body, making sure to tuck it in carefully around her so that the toddler would definitely not get cold.

Marie’s calm expression morphed into one of protest though, when Lexa made to stand up. The little girl reached out her with her chubby fists, grabbing a hold on the sleeves of the woman’s shirt quickly.

“Alright, I will stay, little one" Lexa tried to appease the child, before Marie could begin to cry, sitting down again while she spoke. She had noticed that the child’s lower lip had already been trembling precariously.

Anya watched her former second with the little girl from the table. She would have suggested to Lexa, to let the toddler fall asleep on her own, but now it was too late for that. As soon as Lexa had promised to stay, the child had calmed again visibly, letting go of her sleeves again.

Not really sure if she should maintain contact with the child or not, Lexa had held her hand uncertainly over the little girl, still under her attentive watch.

When the girl turned over from her back to her side, fully facing her, Lexa still hovered her hand over her little body.

Marie frowned for a little moment, seemingly in thought and a second later, she quickly freed one arm from under the fur, actively pulling the woman’s hand closer to herself, so that it rested softly on her side.

Lexa glanced down at the toddler in slight astonishment, when she had not removed her hand after a few seconds, the child’s grey eyes finally fluttered closed again and it seemed to only take a mere further moment for her soft breathing to even out. The toddler had still managed to bring her hand back to her own mouth, sucking on her thumb as she slept and the corners of her pouty mouth were pulled into the hint of a smile around the thumb in between her lips.

Lexa stayed sitting on the edge of the bed for a long moment, simply inspecting the now peacefully slumbering child, forgetting for a moment that her former mentor was also with her still. Even through the fur, she could feel the warmth radiating from the little body, warming up her hand as well.

“ _You should have let her fall asleep alone”_ Anya chided her former second in a calm tone as the younger woman returned to the table a moment longer. She knew already that her words were falling on deaf ears as Lexa did not show any real reaction to them. There also seemed to now be a shine back within her young leader's green eyes. She knew this shine well enough and had thought it lost with Costia's death. She knew that it meant that Lexa would not be convinced by anyone that keeping the little girl around was neither really proper for her position nor practical. Somehow, they would need to make this work. She could only hope now for her former second and for the toddler that Lexa’s reign would be long.

Lexa held back a roll of her eyes at her general’s comment. She saw no harm in offering a little comfort to the little girl. She could only imagine how confused and probably scared the toddler must be, thrust into a completely new world and now separated from the people she knew as well. She would make sure that the child would be safe now though and really taken proper care of.


	6. Chapter 6 – Diaper disaster

Lexa looked back from the bed on which the toddler was sleeping, letting her gaze settle on her former mentor’s stern features. After losing Costia and finally heading Titus’ advice to send those she cared for her on a personal level away from her side, Lexa had not expected to ever reunite with Anya. She knew that she had not just hurt her pride as her general, but that the personal rejection of the older woman’s offers to help her in her deep grief, had been a far deeper offense.

Although Lexa could pride herself with her deep knowledge of words which easily prompted her to motivate her warriors before each battle, she was at a loss on how to proceed now. She sensed that she was required to somehow discuss with her general what had transpired between them in Polis. It was obvious that Anya had way more knowledge on how to deal with a toddler than she did and she knew that the older woman was right. If she indeed planned to take care of Marie herself, she would need all the help she could get. She would need as many people who she trusted as possible.

“ _When I return to Polis, I would appreciate it, if you would consider coming with me”_ Lexa began in a carefully measured tone, keeping up eye contact with her former mentor. She knew that it was not the apology which Anya deserved, but she guessed that it could be counted as an offer of peace between them.

Lexa had to wait a few silent moments, simply holding the older woman’s piercing gaze unfazed, before the general finally inclined her head in mute acceptance.

 _“What about the rest of the invaders?”_ Anya changed the subject with an unreadable expression.

 _“They cannot reach the Mountain”_ Lexa repeated her previous order _“I want them under close observation. Capture whoever you can for questioning. I am not convinced yet that they need to be killed”_.

Anya nodded in agreement. She knew that quite a lot of their people would not agree, but Lexa had not united the clans under one flag by being overly harsh. The young woman had managed to find a precarious balance between mercy and force.

 _“It is late”_ Anya assessed after another moment of silence, already standing up to leave the commander’s tent. There was nothing which needed to be done tonight still, the toddler was peacefully asleep and would hopefully continue to sleep. Lexa had returned to TonDC in the on-setting nightfall and she knew that Tris was already waiting for her in the tent they shared.

Lexa merely inclined her head in silence once, watching the general sweep out of the tent without another word. She stood up from the table herself soon after, finally taking off her coat and her boots, before she stepped over to the bed on silent feet.

Lexa watched the little girl sleep for long moments, simply standing above her. The toddler was still sucking on her own thumb, slumbering peacefully as if she knew no care in the world.

She went through the tent, blowing out most of the candles, before she finally stood in front of the bed again. Lexa carefully tried to climb onto the bed without disturbing the sleeping toddler.

It was weird to Lexa to try and fall asleep as she was so aware of the little body lying next to her while she tried to keep her distance to the child. She could hear the girl’s even soft breathing and she could also sense the slight warmth radiating off of her small body over to her side of the bed. She would need to have a second smaller bed brought to her tent for the toddler in the morning.

~ ~ ~

On the next morning though, Lexa did not even think again about having a second bed brought to her tent.

Once she woke up to soft sunlight filtering through the material of the tent, Lexa immediately noticed that something was different. It took her not yet fully awake mind a moment to remember how the little girl had found her way from the other side of the bed, right on top of her own chest in the middle of the night.

She had of course been woken by the girl’s tentative movements, but before she could have thought about protesting, The baby had just lied down, cuddling to her, continued to suck on her thumb and drifted off to sleep again. Lexa had remained awake for a few long moments, letting her own arms rest next to her body unsurely. Should she envelope the child? She had fallen asleep herself again debating with herself over what to do now.

Her arms were still wound around the little body, as she woke up in the morning though and her own lips were still curved into a soft smile. Lexa could not remember to have slept so restfully in a rather long time now.

When she opened her eyes, Lexa’s green eyes immediately connected with Marie’s large grey ones and she let herself smile a little broader at the toddler “Good morning, little one” she greeted the child in a gentle tone, giving her smaller body a slight squeeze.

The baby giggled in response.

“Did you sleep well?” Lexa tried to prompt the girl to communicate with her. She loosened her arms around the girl, letting her hands rest on her small back without any pressure. She was not expecting a response from the girl.

The baby finally let go of her thumb, seemingly adjusting her position on Lexa’s chest to look closer at her.

As the girl moved a little, Lexa already could see the hint of a grimace flashing over her roundish features. She could imagine that the child’s tender skin would pain her for the next few days if not weeks until it had fully healed. Nyko had cautioned her that the girl’s hygiene required more attention now than it normally would.

“Let us get your diapers changed first, mmh?” Lexa said in a cheerful tone, although she internally was not feeling sure about this at all. She should have payed better attention to Anya’s demonstration last night. She knew that she could ask a handmaid to fetch Anya again, but she wanted to proof to herself that she could do it alone.

Marie let herself be carried over to the table without any protest, finding the woman’s hazelnut long locks suddenly very fascinating.

“Oh, no, those are not to play with, little one” Lexa chided the girl automatically in a gentle tone, pushing her long hair down her back and out of reach of little Marie’s chubby fists.

She placed the girl onto the blanket still lying on the table and she carefully began to try and undress the child.

Her own clothes, including her gloves were still lying in sight of Marie and before Lexa had noticed it, the little girl had grabbed hold of one of the gloves, being fascinated by the shiny metal applications on the dark material.

“Those are not meant to be played with either, little one” Lexa assessed with a raise of her brow, as she reached out to take the glove out of the baby’s grasp though, the child immediately lost her smile and her lower lip began to tremble for a second, before the first tears rolled down her round cheeks.

Lexa sighed under her breath, letting go of the glove “Alright, you can play with them, okay?” she tried to appease the child, letting the glove dangle right in front of Marie’s face. She could imagine that trying to change the diapers of a distressed child was more complicated than with an occupied toddler.

The girl seemed to consider the offered glove for a moment and her tears thankfully stopped when she reached out and took it again.

Lexa could not fully contain a grimace though when she saw the toddler beginning to chew on the gloves though. She would direly need to get things for the girl, she obviously needed at least some form of toys to keep her occupied. She did not want her to cry though, so she just let Marie have the glove for now.

After Lexa had undressed the toddler, she carefully went about cleaning the girl’s skin as gently as she could, before she applied the cream Nyko had left for his little patient.

The girl seemed content in lying on the table and Lexa stood with a fresh diaper in hand in front of her now, gazing back and forth between the piece of clothing and the little girl for long moments as if she was measuring both, before she finally tried to fasten the material around the girl.

“So, that should do” Lexa finally said, taking the glove from the girl now and trying to pull her to her feet.

Marie seemed confused about what the woman wanted from her.

Lexa sighed though, as soon as the child was standing up, the diaper slipped down the toddler’s body, eliciting a shrill giggle from the girl.

“Oh, you find that funny?” Lexa asked with a chuckled under her breath as she shook her head at the little girl.

Marie just gave a light squeal in reaction, clapping her hands together, as she rocked on her feet, shaking her bum around giggling again.

Anya entered the tent in right that moment, observing the scene in front of her critically with her arms crossed over her chest “You definitely need help” she commented, startling the young leader.

Marie stopped her movements, gazing at the other woman with a smile, waving at her for a moment, before she began to clap again.

“You must be feeling better today, little one” Anya assessed “You better watch now” she turned to Lexa, taking the diaper from the younger woman’s hands before she turned to the blonde toddler.


	7. Chapter 7 – Yummy, gloves

This time, Lexa payed closer attention to the way in which Anya managed to fasten the cloth around the toddler’s body, trying to memorize every step carefully.

Anya grimaced in distaste when Lexa finally took the glove back from Marie. The dark leather was covered in drool and if she was not mistaken, she could even see a slight imprint of the toddler’s front teeth as well.

Marie’s grey eyes immediately followed the glove and she tried reaching out, to take it back, while Lexa inspected it. The toddler let out a clearly whining tone of protest, wanting to get the glove back.

“No, little one” Anya addressed the little child in a tone hinted with strictness. She had seen Lexa’s hands twitch, as if she indeed wanted to leave her glove to the child.

Marie’s face scrunched up, grey eyes flickering over to Anya for a moment, before they returned to the glove, reaching out once more.

“No” Anya repeated in a definitely firmer tone now. She placed her own hands over the toddler’s flailing fists, trying to lightly push them down without hurting the child.

It took the toddler only a mere moment to react and the girl was in tears, lightly sobbing under her breath, which quickly built up to little wails.

Before Anya could stop her, Lexa had by stepped her and took the toddler from the table up into her arms, trying to sooth the upset little girl.

Anya sighed under her breath “ _She will need to learn the meaning of “no”, Lexa”._

“ _But she is crying”_ Lexa retorted, giving her former mentor only a raised brow. Anya had made the girl cry after all.

Anya pinched the bridge of her nose. The little girl seemed to quickly be soothed by Lexa and her wails were getting quitter already. “ _Yes, she’s crying, but she is a baby, they cry at times. Do you want her to learn that she gets her will with tears?”_ she asked the younger woman.

“ _I do not want her to cry"_ Lexa remained steadfast for now “ _She must be scared enough already"_ she added after a brief pause. The little girl in her arms had indeed calmed down already and once she looked down, Lexa could see her grey big eyes looking up at her curiously.

Anya shook her head at the younger woman. She could understand her reasoning and it still seemed as if the little child already had their young leader wrapped around her finger with ease. She knew how soft Lexa could be in private. She knew that she had to portray someone harder for most of the day. It would be dangerous for Lexa’s role as the commander if she now decided to be more her natural self in front of their people.

“ _I know that you’re worried"_ Lexa pointed out after another moment. She knew her general long enough to be able to read her little cues without the need for words. “ _Would it really be perceived as weakness to be gentle with her?”_ she asked in a low tone.

“ _Perhaps not”_ Anya amended with doubt laced in her tone and expression “ _You still don’t want to begin teaching to her that she will get everything she wants if she just cries”_ she brought the discussion back to the actual point.

Lexa sighed under her breath, but finally nodded in defeat. Watching the little girl cry just did not sit right with her and she would prefer to see her smile and giggle instead, but she knew of course that children cried. The girl was lacking the capacity to communicate her needs and feelings yet, so it was of course her natural way of communicating by crying. Anya was right though, she did not want to pamper the little girl, no good would come from that either.

“ _Marie will need toys and other things of her own"_ she commented after a moment.

The toddler in the meantime seemed to have assessed that the situation which had upset her was over and her interest in the commander’s long hair had rekindled. She was clumsily pulling at the end of the strands she could reach.

When Anya caught Lexa grimace in slight surprise at the strength the child exhibited, she chuckled under her breath “ _Yes, she clearly needs things to keep her occupied”_ she agreed _“I’ll see what the village can spare"._

Lexa nodded in agreement. To her surprise, Marie seemed distracted by Anya's departure from her hair, watching the general leave and seemingly wanting to follow her if she interpreted her turning around correctly. She did count as a good sign though that Marie obviously was interested in others as well. She knew that her former mentor was right, she would need help daily in taking care of Marie. She may be able to spend most of the day with the toddler now that they were in TonDC, but as soon as they returned to Polis, this would change drastically.

Lexa lightly chuckled under her breath, imaging for a moment how she brought Marie to a meeting with the ambassadors. Titus would be throwing a fit of rage. She was not sure though if the ambassadors would dare to make a comment. But she knew that she would not be able to keep the little girl around the complete day. So, Marie would indeed need to tolerate other people.

“Are you hungry, little one?” she asked the toddler in a kind tone a moment later, turning her attention back to the child.

Marie only gurgled in response, smiling happily at the woman.

“Yeah, absolutely" Lexa agreed with an amused smirk. It would take some adjustment for her as well to deal with a child which could not communicate her needs yet. All of the nightbloods in Polis had long outgrown infancy and had at least been three summers old or older at their arrival.

Lexa carried the little girl back to the table. A handmaid had already brought some milk for the little girl and she carefully helped her drink. Judging from the enthusiasm with which the child was gulping down the liquid, she had indeed been hungry.

What Lexa forgot after feeding the girl though, was to make sure that she burped. So some time after breakfast, Marie began to be cranky and Lexa had no clue why.

Anya returned to the commander’s tent to find Lexa walking through the tent with an agitated toddler in her arms. The child’s shrill wails had already been audible through most of the village in fact. It was obvious that the child’s lungs and voice were fine.

“ _What is wrong with her?”_ Anya asked, carrying some things for the child in her arms. She had managed to get together a variety of clothes, fresh diapers, softer towels and a few toys which should be enough to keep the toddler occupied.

“ _I do not have a clue"_ Lexa answered already beginning to sound desperate. She had been able calm the child before, but now Marie seemed inconsolable. “ _She began crying after I fed her”_.

Anya raised a brow in thought. “ _Did you remember to make her burp?”_

Lexa blinked at the older woman for a moment.

“ _I will take that as a “no" then"_ Anya commented with a slight role of her eyes “ _You have much to learn again, if you truly want to keep her"._

Lexa sighed under her breath, as doubt settled in her mind. Could she actually take care of Marie? She had condemned the invaders for having neglected proper care of the toddler, but it seemed now that she was not faring much better.


	8. Chapter 8 – Lamb plushie

Fortunately, Lexa managed to calm the baby down fairly quickly after the girl had finally burped up the air which had caused her discomfort.

Anya had placed all the things she had brought for the toddler on the table and was sorting through the stuff now.

Marie seemed pretty content to remain within Lexa’s arms for the moment. She seemed to just now truly have realized Anya’s arrival and she was watching the woman with curious grey eyes now.

“You have gotten more than I expected” Lexa commented, taking a look at the things as well over Anya’s shoulders.

Anya huffed under her breath “A toddler needs more than one set of clothes” the general retorted with a slight roll of her eyes. She was not really surprised that the villagers had been so helpful as soon as she had mentioned that the things would go to their commander, the people were ready to give her almost everything.

Lexa nodded with an appeasing expression. Her attention was called to the little girl in her arms a second later. Marie must have spotted something on the table which interested her and the child was trying to turn within her arms and she was pointing at something mutely.

She adjusted her grip on the little girl, so that Marie was basically standing on the table now. Marie seemed to know though that she still needed some support and let the commander hold onto her hands without protest. Lexa had still moved closely behind the toddler in case she would suddenly topple from the table, she would be close enough to catch her.

Once Marie was pulling at one of her hands, clearly wanting to reach out to something, Lexa let go of the child, leaning against the edge of the table now.

She watched with an amused smile how the child let herself drop onto her bum. She could imagine though that the movement must have hurt the toddler with her inflamed skin. The girl had rolled to her knees and crawled over to the selection of toys Anya had brought to the tent.

“ _Any news from the scouts?”_ Lexa asked her former mentor, while Marie took hold of the first toy – a plushie in the form of a lamb. The soft fur was surprisingly clean and almost white still, showing that it was still rather new or at least relatively new.

Anya watched the child as well. Marie had pulled the plushie from the other toys and after the toddler had inspected it, she had sat down again, turning around slightly, showing the toy to each of them, babbling something which was completely impossible to understand. She seemed happy about the toy though, judging from her almost radiant smile and the noises she let out were high and shrill.

 _“They do not seem to be searching for her”_ Anya related what the scouts had told her so far.

Marie’s radiant smile dimmed noticeably at not getting any response and her eyebrows scrunched together. She crawled closer to Lexa, holding up the toy and babbling something again.

Lexa still had not understood a word the toddler had just said, but she smiled at her encouragingly “What a beautiful lamb you have got there, little one” she tried to acknowledge the girl. Internally, she actually felt anger course through her veins. Shouldn’t the invaders be searching for the toddler? Were they really so indifferent towards the little girl that they did not even put any effort into finding her? She knew without any doubt that her own people would have searched all through the night if one of their own young ones had gone missing.

Marie nodded enthusiastically “Da…da…” she continued to babble happily and her attention returned to the plushie and she seemed to begin playing with it, moving it around herself and she seemed to be communicating with it as well. Only a few of her noises were distinguishable, but she did not seem able to form words with them yet.

“Commander!” a shout from outside the tent interrupted their quiet moment only shortly later, both of them had simply been watching the toddler play around.

Marie only shortly had turned her head towards the entrance of the tent, before she returned to her playing unperturbed.

Anya quickly agreed to stay with the little child for a moment, while Lexa went to investigate what was going on.

Lexa swept out of the tent quickly and she was already awaited by several warriors, all of them appeared alarmed and they quickly told their leader that something had fallen from the sky again only a few moments ago, landing somewhere in the distance.

“ _Investigate what has happened, but try not to be spotted. We do not know if whoever has come down now may have weapons”_ she ordered in a brisk tone. It would be foolish to assume that just because the invaders now had been inexperienced youth, nothing more than untrained children, that this would be the case now as well.

The warriors immediately left to carry out their leader’s order and Lexa remained standing in front of her tent, looking up at the sky for a moment worriedly. They had no idea just how many people were still living in the sky. It would be unrealistic to assume that there only would be youths up there. She still could not fathom why someone would decide to send untrained children into unknown territory.

Her attention was diverted from the sky by a rather shrill squawking tone coming from the inside of her tent and Lexa turned on her heels, getting back inside. She trusted in Anya’s ability to care for Marie, but she wanted to be there herself in case the toddler was really upset.

Lexa had not expected to find Anya apparently playing with Marie though. The toddler was lying on the table on her back, the plush lamb was lying just above her head and Anya must have tickled her judging from their positions.

Once Anya bend over the toddler again, indeed tickling her again, the child let out a series of shrill laughs, kicking with her legs and squirming in place.

Lexa watched her former mentor handle the toddler in silence for a moment. She already wanted to intervene when it seemed that Marie had choked slightly, but Anya had immediately stopped tickling the baby, pulling her up into her arms and lightly clapping onto her back until she could breathe again. Fortunately, the child still had a happy expression on her features.

From her perched-up position on Anya’s arms, Marie could spot Lexa behind them and she let out a little happy squeal in greeting, stretching out her short chubby arms towards the other woman.

Anya turned around, facing her former second. Her expression clearly showed that she did not wish to hear any comment from Lexa.

Lexa’s lips still tilted up into a smile, but she wisely kept silent, instead walking closer and holding her own arms open. It was obvious that Marie wanted to be held by her.

Lexa took over the little girl “Hello, little one” she greeted the girl in an enthusiastic tone, brushing a blonde lock behind her ear. She would need time to get used to speaking so loudly and expressive with the baby.

Marie’s shining grey eyes and her bright smile was greeting enough.

Lexa smiled at the child with a gentle expression. It warmed her heart to see the girl so genuinely happy at her arrival. Her own smile grew even more, when the child titled her head to the side slightly, before she leaned her head against her chest. The toddler gave a little yawn and began to suck on her thumb again.

“I think it is time for a nap, little one” Lexa commented in a kind tone. She rubbed over the child’s back soothingly. She knew that Anya was right that she should not let the girl sleep on her arms, but would it really cause any harm?


	9. Chapter 9 – Doubt settles in

Anya had left a few moments later, having scheduled a training session with her second Tris.

Lexa continued to carry the baby through the tent. It felt weird in a good way to feel her warm light weight in her arms. She had settled the toddler on one of her hips and the little girl’s head was resting on one of her shoulders. The girl’s little body had grown limber, so Lexa knew that she must have drifted off to sleep by now.

She had no idea how long she had still been carrying the girl around until Lexa finally decided to settle the girl down onto her bed. She carefully placed the child on the bed, tucking a soft fur around her little body gently. Lexa remained standing beside the bed for a long time, simply watching the toddler sleeping peacefully, as her little chest rose and fell gently with each of her breaths.

She wondered how the arrival of the little girl could now truly fit into her life. Had she acted too brashly in her decision to keep the child with her?

~ ~ ~

Lexa was still standing next to the bed, looking down at the child thoughtfully, some time later, when Anya returned to the commander’s tent.

The general had finished her training session with Tris and she wanted to check that Lexa was not having any problems with the toddler now being in her care. She was surprised to find her former second obviously deep in thought, standing in front of her bed. The child seemed to be sleeping peacefully still and Anya thought that it would be advisable to wake the baby soon, or she would be too rested later to be put to bed for the night at a reasonable time. She knew those creased brows of the young leader as the expression the brunette usually wore, when she was doubting something, herself most likely now. It was also most untypical of the commander that the younger woman had not shown any reaction to her entrance of the tent.

“What is on your mind?” Anya asked, destroying the silence in the commander’s tent. She raised a brow at the younger woman in surprise, when Lexa visibly startled at her words.

Lexa felt herself blush the slightest bit at being caught so unguarded by her former mentor. She sighed deeply under her breath “How is this supposed to work out?” she finally said, expression almost desperate. She wanted to be able to keep the toddler with her. She could not pinpoint why she wished for it, but she did. She was doubting now though, that she would actually be able to adequately take care of her and provide her with the stability a young child needed. She was the commander and always in danger, could she really place an innocent toddler in that same danger? She remembered Titus’ teachings painfully. “Being commanders means to be alone”. She had already felt the truth in that words after Costia’s death.

Anya let her gaze wander between Lexa and the peacefully sleeping baby for long silent moments. “It will certainly not be easy” she agreed in a neutral tone “but it is not impossible either. You have already decided, you will regret it, if you act against your own wishes now.” Such honest words were rare between them and even rarer now after such a long separation.

Lexa snorted slightly, making a decision solely based on her own feelings and just for her own personal sake went against anything she had ever been taught as a nightblood. Before she could actually retort something, the toddler visibly began to move under the furs, obviously just waking up on her own. Following her own instincts, she sat down on the edge of the mattress, next to the child, waiting for her to blink open her large grey eyes.

Once Marie had indeed opened her eyes, her pouty lips pulled into a smile around her thumb, as she recognized Lexa.

“Hello, little one” Lexa greeted the child in a soft tone, reaching out and gently placing her hand over the little girl’s abdomen, caressing her gently for a moment.

Marie’ eyes were intently looking at the woman sitting next to her, as she finally took out her thumb from her mouth. She stretched out her arms towards Lexa with a slight demanding squeal and she seemed to babble something as well.

“You want to be taken up, don’t you?” Lexa inquired in a soft tone, already pushing the fur down from the child’s small body and bending over as she took her up.

“She obviously can’t answer yet” Anya remarked with a huff, sitting down next to Lexa and efficiently catching the little girl’s attention as well as she got into her view “Can you say “Anya”, little one?” she asked, repeating her name a few times. It seemed that the girl was full on the way in developing her speech and she knew that children tried to repeat what they heard and learned that way.

Marie either was not so far yet or just not in the mood to mimic her name and her mood seemed to be close to switching as the corners of her mouth began to dip.

“Her diapers seem fine” Lexa assessed after a few moments of letting the girl just sit on her lap.

“It is too early to feed her now” Anya said “She needs movement though. Do you want to come to me, little one?” she directed her words to Marie, holding out her arms open invitingly for the toddler.

Marie’s interest was quipped immediately and she turned around in Lexa’s arms, reaching out her short chubby arms several times.

Lexa slowly eased her grip around the little girl’s body and the child tried to crawl over to the general. She still reached out and let one hand hover beside the baby, in case she would lose her balance and fall from the edge of the mattress. 

“I have you now, little one” Anya said playfully as the girl reached her and she gently tickled the toddler’s sides.

Marie let out a shrill howl of laughter, squealing in clear excitement. She had let herself nearly fall on her back on Anya’s lap and was now wildly kicking her legs and flailing her arms.

“Commander…” Gustus’ voice resonated outside of the tent “…a scouting team has returned”.

“I am coming” Lexa called back, standing up from the bed. Anya could take care of the child for a little while. Her former mentor was right, if she wanted to keep the toddler with her, Marie needed to accept being cared for by others for some time and it was good that she seemed connected to the general as well, while she had been afraid of Indra.

Anya stopped tickling the little girl, before she could begin to have trouble breathing “Can you walk yet, little one?” she asked the child, while she carefully placed the girl on her own feet.

Anya stood up from the bed, holding onto little Marie’s hands. The child babbled something, bobbing up and down a little as she bent and stretched her knees.


	10. Chapter 10 – Little charmer

“You’re doing very well, little one” Anya encouraged the young baby with a slight proud smile, still holding onto both of her little fists strongly. It was obvious that her little legs were still trying to find a way to hold up her weight on her own with the way she was swaying around.

Marie giggled loudly as she was testing out the way Anya was holding onto her hands, even going so far as jumping a little up and down in place. Although truthfully, her little feet actually did not fully leave the ground together.

Anya smiled at the little baby, chuckling under her breath. She wanted to see how well the child would do without her support. She carefully first let go of one of the baby’s hands, waited for a moment and then let go of the second hand as well.

Marie swayed visibly on her feet as soon as she was standing on her own. Her giggling fell silent, as she looked up over her shoulder, visibly unsure and she immediately plopped down on her bum, letting out a slight wail of pain.

Anya felt a surge of sympathy for the little girl. She had seen in which condition the child’s skin was underneath her diaper, so falling down on her bum was undoubtedly painful for her. But she wanted to encourage the child to continue trying nevertheless. She crouched down behind the girl, taking back hold on her little chubby hands to pull her back to her feet.

Lexa entered the tent a few moments later and she stood right in the entrance of the tent with a smile as she watched Anya slowly walking through the tent with the little child.

Marie looked up immediately at the commander’s entrance and her grey eyes lightened up in joy, letting out a shrill laugh as she babbled something.

“Has she just said something?” Lexa directed her question to her former mentor.

Anya was not fully sure if the child had said anything at all, but it was obvious that Marie had reacted to Lexa’s arrival and the whirlwind clouding her former second’s green eyes was palpable. The baby pulled on her hands as if she wanted to move quicker into Lexa’s direction and Anya slowly let go of her little hands, keeping her own hands hovering behind the child, in case she needed to steady the child before she could fall down again, as she wanted to safe her from further pain.

Marie wobbled towards Lexa slowly, swaying on her little legs visibly. She babbled something again as she came closer to Lexa, laughing brightly.

Lexa came up to meet the child, so that she just needed to cross a very short distance and she kneeled down on the ground, holding out her arms invitingly with a large smile.

Marie fell more into Lexa’s arms then anything else, but the commander still pulled her into her arms as she got into her feet, praising the child enthusiastically “You’re doing so good walking, little one”.

“I would not call that walking just yet” Anya commented, tone interlaced with a hint of snark. But her smile tempered her tone down again.

Marie babbled again as Lexa turned around to her former mentor and the child clapped a few times, before she raised her arms towards the general.

“Ah, you want to get back to me, little one?” Anya reacted to the child’s gestures, taking the little girl back from Lexa’s arms.

Marie was only the general’s arms for a few seconds, laughing a few times, before she already turned her little head back around to Lexa, holding her arms back up and squirming in Anya’s arms in Lexa’s direction.

When Marie tried to repeat the same thing again a few moments later, Anya shook her head. “Oh, no, little one” she denied with an amused smile. The little girl clearly already knew how to play with them and it was obvious that she was having fun with it “You can use your charm another time” she answered. She knew that the child would not understand her words fully, but her grey eyes were watching her attentively, showing that she was still listening and paying attention.

Marie clearly lost her delight in their little play once Anya did not oblige to her wish anymore and her smile vanished. Her features pulled into a displeased grimace and she began to cry a few seconds later.

“Oh, shhh, little one” Lexa tried to sooth the child, rocking her around a little.

“She must be hungry by now” Anya said a few moments later, when the baby’s wails only increased in volume at Lexa’s attempts to calm her down.

Lexa carried the child back over to the table, sitting down with her on a chair, as Anya quickly left to fetch something to eat for the little girl. She still had a cup with tea on the table and she slowly let the child take a few sips from it. The enthusiasm in which the little girl drank from the tea, it was obvious that she was indeed hungry.

Her wails had fallen silent as soon as Lexa had offered the tea to her, but she began to whine a little again when Lexa pulled the cup away from her.

“Anya is getting you something, little one” she tried to tell to the child, caressing over her back soothingly. She offered the little plush lamb to Marie to distract her until Anya returned.

Fortunately, the child indeed took hold of the plushie, pulling it closer to her chest. She pulled onto one of Lexa’s braids with her other free little hand, when it dangled it front of her view.

“You’re surprisingly strong, little one” Lexa assessed as she tried to pry the child’s little fingers from her braid without hurting her.

“She does have a fascination with braids” Anya answered with a chuckle at Lexa’s slight grimace. She had just returned to the commander’s tent “Let me feed her” she demanded, as she placed the bowl with food on the table.

Marie frowned visibly at being handed back to Anya and she let out a loud squeal in obvious protest.

Anya shook her head at the little girl with a calm expression on her features. She placed the little girl securely on her lap before she took the wooden spoon and carefully got a little of the mushy substance onto it, guiding it towards Marie’s pouty mouth.

Marie shook her head, keeping her grey eyes fixed on Lexa as she wiggled her arms towards the commander.

Anya silenced Lexa with a harsh glare when the younger woman already wanted to interfere. “I have the food, little one, not Lexa” Anya said in a kind tone, showing the spoon once again to Marie.

The child only looked at her for a second, before she looked back to Lexa, her lower lip trembled visibly already.

“And such tasty food it is, little one” Anya said, trying to regain the child’s attention, eating a little spoonful of the porridge directly in plain sight of Marie. She had to control her expression though, the mushy stuff was anything but tasty.

The child had obviously watched her and she frowned visibly, now that Anya was eating “her” food. She flailed her arms around a little and her expression was best described as “pouting”.

Anya nodded with a slight smile, pleased that her tactic had worked out for now.

Lexa watched her former mentor handling the little girl in surprise. One thing was clear, she could obviously learn a lot from Anya when it came to the care of Marie.


	11. Chapter 11 – You are safe, little one

The rest of the day had passed in relative quiet. Lexa had never imagined that she would ever sit on the floor of her tent, together with her former mentor, entertaining a mere baby with an assortment of different toys. It had been obvious that Marie had more than just enjoyed herself and the young child had been nearly hyper with excess energy afterwards.

Anya had left her though, once Marie had been fed dinner, to check that Tris was alright. So, Lexa was left alone in trying to bath the blonde toddler. She had considered asking Indra for help, but Marie had not reacted well to the dark-skinned warrior’s presence at all the first time they had met. The fact that the child was so hyperactive right now, was worrying her slightly though.

Alira, with the help of a few other handmaiden, had prepared a bath in the meantime.

Lexa had not expected though, that the child would have no idea what a bath actually was. “Marie, I want to give you a bath now” she addressed the child in a kind tone.

Marie was looking at her attentively for a second, before she returned her attention to the toys which still stood in front of her. She had insisted on keeping the plush lamb clutched to her chest with one arm, even while they had played together previously. Anya had shown a sort of wooden puzzle to the baby before and Marie was now again

“Little one?” Lexa tried to regain the child’s attention as she crouched down next to her. She was still not sure if the child understood her or was just reacting to her voice, without understanding her words, right now, she actually thought it more likely that the child did not understand the words at all yet.

Marie only fleetingly looked up, trying to fit a squared piece right now unsuccessfully into a round hole. Her attention returned to her toy immediately again.

Lexa smiled in amusement as the little baby stubbornly tried to continue to fit the wrong piece into the hole.

“Enough playing now, little one” Lexa loudly exclaimed, keeping her tone cheerful.

Anya had tried to correct Marie before while the girl had continued to try to force a non-fitting piece into the wrong place. The little girl had not really reacted well to that though, losing interest once Anya was trying to show her how to do it correctly.

Marie pouted visibly once Lexa gently pushed the pieces of the puzzle out of her reach. Once she seemed to realize that Lexa would not push the puzzle back into her reach, she fully turned her grey eyes to the woman, tilting her head to the side, babbling a few syllables.

Lexa wondered for a moment what the child could have meant, but she had no clue. “Bath time” she proclaimed instead in a kind tone.

Marie frowned, with a look of confusion on her round features.

Lexa took the little girl into her arms and carried her over towards the bathing tube. Placing her onto her feet in front of it, to get her undressed.

The baby’s skin was still visibly aflame, but Lexa thought that it looked a little better already.

She hoped that the bathing tube was not too deep to get Marie washed without accidentally drowning the child in the process.

Lexa noticed as she took Marie back up into her arms and stood in front of the bathing tube, that Alira had only filled the bathing tube half with water.

Marie still began to kick with her legs once Lexa tried to lower her down into the steaming water. Her smile had all but disappeared and was replaced with fear as she shrieked in protest.

“Hush, little one” Lexa tried to sooth the girl, taking her into her arms again fully for a moment and stepping back from the bathing tube, turning her back to it for a second. She was surprised that the child was reacting this way now, she had not protested during her first bath after all.

Once the baby had stopped her feeble protests, Lexa sat down on the edge of the bathing tube. She reached out one hand, letting her fingers feel the temperature of the water.

“Look, little one” she said softly, turning slightly, so that Marie could look over the edge of the bathing tube “It is only water” she continued. Gently, Lexa let a few drops of the water from her fingertips drip onto the child’s thighs.

Marie giggled as the water slowly ran down her legs.

“See, nothing to be afraid of” Lexa assured the little girl with a kind smile “Let’s try this again” she added after a moment. Marie appeared calm and she was not trying to get away either.

The child’s expression still was visibly unsure as Lexa lowered her down again towards the water. Alira had added some scented soap to the water and a few herbs which were supposed to aid the healing of the girl’s aggravated skin.

“You are safe, little one” Lexa assured the child in a kind tone, keeping a gentle but sure grip on her small body.

~ ~ ~

Getting the baby bathed, went over easily once Marie had realized that nothing bad was going to happen to her. Lexa would have liked to ask her how they had washed their bodies, as it was obvious that the concept of taking a bath like this was absolutely alien to her.

Marie seemed tired after her bath and Lexa saw that the child’s eyes were already dropping closed once she was drying her off carefully. Lexa remembered to apply the balm Nyko had given to her for the purpose before she fastened a clean diaper around the girl’s body. Due to the child being sleepy, she was not moving around at all, when Lexa dressed her into something in which she could sleep.

Lexa smiled down at the child “You can go to bed now, little one” she said in an amused tone, as the girl let her head drop to her shoulder. Once she had finished dressing the girl, she carried her over to the bed.

On the way, she had picked up the plush lamb from Anya, offering it to the sleepy girl.

Even though the little child was visibly close to falling asleep, she still took hold of the white plushie, pulling it closer to her chest.

Lexa carefully placed the girl onto the bed, making sure that she was placed far away from the edge that she could not fall down if she rolled over in her sleep.

Marie was looking up at her with her wide grey eyes and Lexa sat down on the edge of the mattress, before she yawned again deeply.

Lexa watched her tighten her hold on the plush lamb and she began to suck on one of her thumbs, while Lexa tucked in the furs around her little body.

“Sleep well, little one” she said in a soft tone, as she watched the child’s grey eyes falling close.


	12. Chapter 12 – “Gonna get you!”

The baby had thankfully slept peacefully through the night. Lexa was actually surprised that the little girl was sleeping so easily within her presence and she wondered if it was her presence that was calming the child fully.

As long as there was nothing, she needed to decide concerning the invaders, Lexa actually had more free time in TonDC than she had in Polis, where her daily routine was pretty packed.

Once Lexa woke up in the morning, she felt the baby’s light weight lying on her chest, while the little plush lamb was actually squeezed between them. Lexa was thankful that the toy did not contain any sharper or hard objects or this would definitely be uncomfortable.

She still felt incredibly touched with the amount of trust the baby was displaying towards her indicated already clearly by their sleeping positions. Lexa knew that she could certainly get used to this feeling as well and she felt a slight smile settle on her lips, as she let one arm rest gently over the baby’s little body.

Soft light was filtering inside through the material of the tent. So, Lexa knew that it was already morning. It could not take long before breakfast would be brought to the commander’s tent.

She let her fingers gently trail over the baby’s back until Marie began to squirm a little bit before her sleepy grey eyes fluttered open. The thumb she had been sucking on, finally left her mouth and she rubbed at her eyes with her little fists a moment later.

“Good morning, little one” Lexa greeted the child in a cheerful tone, smiling at her kindly.

Marie let out what probably was a happy squeal as well, grey eyes twinkling with a smile. She lightly pulled on the hem of Lexa’s shirt.

Lexa’s smile pulled into a slight frown, not sure what the baby could be trying to tell her with that. She began to laugh with a shake of her head though, once the little girl tried to push her lamb toy under her shirt. She did not understand why the child was doing so, but she seemed happy while she was at it.

She carefully sat up under the furs, pulling Marie with her, so that the baby was sitting on her lap for a moment, while she reached under her shirt to pull the little toy out of it again, handing it back over to Marie.

Marie waved the little toy around directly in front of Lexa’s features.

Lexa gently pushed the girl’s arm down away from her face, grabbing under the baby’s armpits and carefully transferring her from her lap onto the mattress next to her. She stretched herself for a moment, before she stood up from the bed. Lexa saw that the baby was watching her movements, holding onto the little lamb toy, now clutching it to her own chest.

Lexa barely reacted fast enough, as the child obviously wanted to follow her, crawling to the edge of the mattress. It seemed though that she did not recognize that it was the edge and Lexa already saw her fall from the bed. She stepped back quickly to the bed, catching the baby just in time, before she could fall down fully.

Lexa felt her heart beat a little faster in reaction, surprisingly though, the little girl found the situation funny and she was laughing fully in shrill giggles, wiggling around in Lexa’s arms and smiling at her with large grey eyes.

Lexa sighed under her breath, shaking her head gently at the child’s antics, before she sat her down on the floor of the tent, that way she could at least not fall down from the bed. She stepped over into the bathing area of the tent and went about quickly washing herself and getting dressed for the day ahead.

Marie must have followed her though, crawling over the ground while she still somehow held on to the plush lamb. She sat down directly in front of Lexa, looking up and watching the woman attentively. Her attention was called away from Lexa though, by Anya entering the commander’s tent a moment later.

The general was delivering breakfast to the commander’s tent in Alira’s stead.

Marie had turned her little around as soon as she heard Anya’s footsteps and she turned back around to face her. She smiled brightly, clapping her hands together around the toy in obvious joy. She carefully seemed to get to her feet, holding herself up for a moment on a small table. Before she shakily walked over to Anya, letting out a few enthusiastic noises on the way.

“Oh, hello, little one” Anya greeted the baby in an overly cheerful tone, sweeping her up into her arms.

Marie laughed loudly, as Anya settled her onto one of her hips, tickling her for a few moments as the baby’s laughs turned into shrill giggles at her attention.

While Lexa got herself ready, Anya placed the baby on the table as she stopped tickling her, starting to undress her in order to change her diapers.

Marie had one of the lamb’s ears in her little mouth while Anya was changing her diapers, watching the woman with wide grey eyes.

“Such a well behaved, young lady” Anya praised the child as she was finished. She had also gotten a fresh onesie to dress the little girl into, gently pulling the girl’s arms through the holes of the clothing.

Marie seemed to be getting bored though and she began to move around, while Anya tried to get the onesie closed.

“Just a moment, little one” Anya said, trying to hurry to get it closed. When she had succeeded, she sat down on a chair at the table, pulling the little girl onto her lap in order to start feeding her.

Marie did not seem interested in eating at all. She did not want to open her mouth when Anya tried to feed her and she was actively turning around, trying to twist her head away as she let out little sounds of protest.

“Oh, Marie, you need to eat” Anya assessed critically with a frown. She sighed under her breath, as she spooned up a little bit of the mushy oatmeal, visibly eating it in front of the girl, while she was watching. This time, the tactic did not work though and Marie actually began to feebly try to get out of Anya’s grasp, when she heard Lexa moving behind Anya, what she was unable to see at the moment.

“Marie…” Anya tried to regain the child’s attention, accidentally smearing a little of the oatmeal over Marie’s cheek as she tried to move away again.

“She can eat later” Lexa said to her former mentor, prompting Anya to roll her eyes, but indeed placing the child down on her feet.

Marie immediately wobbled in Lexa’s direction, but before Lexa could sweep her up into her arms, the little baby clumsily turned around, hurrying away from her again with a loud giggle.

“Oh, you want me to get you, little one?” Lexa answered, catching on to what the little girl wanted right now once Marie turned back into her direction and squealed once, before she moved further away again.

“Gonna get you!” she exclaimed in a cheerful tone, slowly making her way behind Marie.

The child was ecstatic with joy and her laughs had tuned the loudest, Lexa had ever heard so far. Once she had followed Marie through the tent completely, she stopped, thinking that the game may be enough now.

Marie did not seem to agree though and she looked between both of them, babbling something which sounded demanding.

Anya rolled her eyes once more, before she actually got up as well, standing closer to the child right now. “You better run, little one” Anya said playfully “Before I get you!” she exclaimed with a laugh.

Marie immediately giggled cheerfully, as she surprisingly quickly wobbled through the tent in front of Anya.

Lexa’s eyes widened though, when the child suddenly fell down face-flat on the tent, probably having tripped somehow.

Both, Lexa and Anya, rushed to the little girl, wanting to comfort her, but as Marie was pulled up by Lexa into her arms, the child was still laughing full of joy, clapping her hands together.

Anya let out a relived breath, before she said “Back to trying to make her eat then…”.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – “Now this, is a horse, little one”

Lexa was the one who now tried to get the baby to eat. Marie did still not appear interested at all in eating the food. 

Lexa sighed under her breath, the little girl continued to turn her head around and she could see that the girl was slowly getting grouchy.

“Just try to offer some food to her again later” Anya proposed after a few minutes of watching her former second futilely trying to feed the blonde baby on her lap.

Lexa had looked over to Anya and Marie used that very moment to reach out towards the bowl with her little hands.

Before Anya could have warned Lexa, the baby had taken hold of the edge of the bowl with her little fingers and pulled it closer to herself.

“N…” Anya began to speak, shaking her head.

But it was too late already, Marie had raised one of her little hands and let it fall down directly into the bowl. Splashing some of the oatmeal over the herself and some on Lexa’s clothes in the process. The girl gave a squeal of utter delight though, repeating the action, before Lexa could stop her.

Anya reached out and pulled the bowl away, before Marie could do it a third time.

The little girl visibly frowned at the general, looking between her own now completely dirty hands and the bowl for a few moments, before she stretched into its direction on Lexa’s lap, making a cooing noise as the corners of her lips turned down.

Lexa tried to stand up with Marie in her arms, without letting the baby smear all of the oatmeal over her shirt, but it did not work at all. The little girl immediately grabbed a hold of her shirt and Lexa pulled a slight grimace. She would need to change into another set of clothes. She had wanted to take the baby outside after Marie had eaten.

Lexa did not want to place Marie on the ground of the tent. The baby still seemed to change between trying to walk and crawl around to move, with the state of her little chubby hands now, she would only distribute the sticky substance everywhere she touched.

Marie did not seem very pleased though to be carried around now, she held on with one hand to Lexa’s shirt and stretched her other arm towards Anya, who still visibly held the bowl with oatmeal. The sounds the baby was producing turned absolutely displeased.

“Sshh, little one” Lexa tried to sooth the child, cradling the little girl “You can’t play with that” she tried to explain, although she knew that Marie was not understanding her words just yet.

Marie was still fussing while Lexa tried to clean the little girl’s hands gently with a damp washcloth. It was clear that the girl did not like being handled like this and not having gotten her will a moment before.

The little girl being fussy, turned into her throwing a full-blown tantrum, when Lexa tried to clean her face.

“She definitely has healthy lungs” Anya commented with a grimace in a loud tone, trying to drown out the baby’s shrill sounds of distress.

It was obvious that Lexa was irritated as well by the baby suddenly beginning to scream. She had placed the little girl on the edge of the bed and Marie was flailing around with her chubby arms, trying to fend off Lexa’s attempts to wipe clean her cheeks.

She let out a frustrated breath, before she used one hand to catch Marie’s flailing arms as gently as she could and quickly cleaned off the oatmeal from Marie’s round cheeks, although the girl was still doing her best to get away.

Anya stepped over from the table and took up the little plush lamb, Marie had liked before. She knew that young toddlers at this age were prone to have mood swings very often. Lexa would also need to get used to Marie’s tantrums and learn to deal with them accordingly. She remembered from her sister, that their mother had either just ignored her for some time, until she calmed down on her own or tried to distract her.

Thus, she now tried as well to show the plushie to the little girl, kneeling down in front of her, while Lexa stepped away to change her clothing.

“Look, little one” Anya addressed the child in a loud extra excited tone, trying to catch her attention. She dangled the plushie directly in front of the girl’s large grey eyes for a moment “Look, who is lonely here” she tried again a brief moment later, when it seemed that the child’s distressed bawling was getting quitter.

Indeed, Marie stopped crying, looking at the plush lamb. Anya was still holding it slightly out of reach of the little child and once Marie indicated that she would like to have it, having stopped her fuzziness from one second to the other altogether, Anya took the little girl up in her arms, letting her take a hold of the lamb.

Marie immediately had taken the little toy into her arms and was now apparently chewing on one its ears again.

Anya frowned slightly. Nyko had told them that the baby was in the age of teething and she guessed that she just did not want to eat because her gums were hurting currently. They could go to Nyko with Marie later to get something to ease her discomfort if she continued to refuse food.

“I think your little one does not want to eat because of her teething” Anya explained to Lexa.

Lexa looked surprised for a moment at the phrase “your little one”, but she felt deeply touched by it and a smile settled onto her lips.

“Are you in pain, little one?” she directed her words to Marie, speaking slowly and in a very emphasized and caring way.

The little girl was looking at her with her wide grey eyes, chewing on one ear of the plushie in the meantime.

“Does she need a change as well?” Lexa asked Anya. With the way the general was securely holding the little girl, she could not see how dirty the child’s onesie had gotten.

“You wanted to take her outside, right?” Anya answered with another question.

Lexa nodded with a slightly unsure expression. She had not been outside with the baby yet and after the little girl had just thrown a tantrum, she was not sure how this would go over now.

“Then, she is fine” Anya answered to Lexa’s confusion.

Marie seemed to have decided that she wanted to get to Lexa, she let go of Anya’s shirt and stretched in Lexa’s direction.

Anya handed the little girl over into Lexa’s arms with a slight shake of her head, hoping that the child would not take up her “hand me over”-game again.

Lexa did not wake for Marie to start with that, instead carrying the little girl towards the tent flaps.

Marie appeared slightly confused once Lexa pushed the tent flap open in front of them. The little girl looked around with wide grey eyes as soon as Lexa stepped out of the tent with her.

Lexa tightened her grasp on the child, holding her close. It was obvious that the new surroundings were frightening the baby.

Anya was following them closely, looking around them with vigilant eyes. She doubted that anyone would try to attack them, but it never hurt to be cautious. She knew that word had already spread about the baby being here and where she came from.

Marie was quiet while Lexa and Anya walked through TonDC. No one approached the three of them, although both women were aware of the fact that all eyes were on them immediately.

The child was watching everything, but she continued to chew on the ear of the little plush lamb in silence.

Lexa brought the little girl to her own horse, wanting to show the animal to Marie. She was pretty certain that the child had not had contact to one before.

“I would not be surprised if she is afraid of the horses” Anya cautioned her former second in a critical tone. The child had not made any sounds or gestures indicating that she wanted to be let down, but instead seemed content in Lexa’s arms for now.

Anya’s prediction proofed to be true.

Lexa’s black horse of course recognized its owner and came over to them freely.

“Look, there, little one” Lexa said in a soft tone just before the animal reached them “It’s a horse, Marie” she tried to explain.

Marie became frightened once Lexa’s mare stood directly in front of them and seemed to want to sniff at the baby. The young toddler let out a shrill squeal, squirming in Lexa’s arms, trying to get away.

The horse also was not really pleased by the sudden loud noise, being spooked. It reared its head, huffing out a large bout of air, trampling on the ground a few times, before it stepped away, when Marie continued to let out frightened noises.

“Little one, it is only a horse” Lexa tried to sooth the child, while Anya could not help herself and laughed slightly under her breath. Lexa’s expression clearly showed that she could not understand why the little girl was reacting so strongly and that she wanted her to stop crying as soon as possible. Marie tried to turn around in Lexa’s arms, hiding her face against her shoulder, still crying.

“We should try that again later” Anya finally said, motioning Lexa to retreat for now. It would be better if they instead visited Nyko for now.

The girl thankfully stopped crying, once Lexa carried her out of sight of the horses and she lifted her head from Lexa’s shoulder once again.

The baby seemed to let out a slight “aaww” before she yawned and let her head rest back on Lexa’s shoulder.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Lexa carried the baby back towards her tent, while Anya said that she would see where Tris was currently. It was obvious that the little girl was tired and would need a nap now.

The child was practically asleep already, when Lexa entered the commander’s tent. Lexa carefully placed the little girl on her bed, watching with a little smile, how Marie immediately turned onto her side, pulling the plush lamb closer to her chest as she sucked on her thumb. Even around the thumb in her little pouty mouth, Lexa could see that the baby’s lips seemed to be curved into a content smile.

Lexa sighed as she looked around the tent. Marie had eaten next to nothing. There was still some of the oatmeal distributed around the table and smeared on the table surface.

The girl had only been here for a little amount of time and already there were toys strewn around. Same as clothes from the child.

Lexa knew that she could just call Alira or one of the other handmaidens to tidy and clean the tent, but she wanted to remain close to Marie for now and as long as no one would be calling for her, she could stay in her tent as well.

She usually only took care of her weapons and occasionally of her horse, but otherwise handmaidens took care of her things, so that she could fully concentrate on her duties as the commander. Anya had still instilled basic things in her, so, cleaning a tent and tidying up were nothing alien to her.

Lexa busied herself with cleaning up. Removing the strains of the oatmeal. She knew that the girl’s clothing was also not clean, but she could change her later.

The commander finally stepped back over to the bed. Her brows furrowed when she noticed that baby’s expression was not looking peaceful any longer. She was not sure if she was imagining it or not, but it seemed to her as if the girl’s cheeks were slightly reddish.

Lexa sat down on the edge of the mattress, reaching out carefully and feeling the girl’s forehead. She frowned, when she noticed that it was sweaty. The girl’s skin was also warm to the touch, too warm. She sighed under her breath.

Nyko had warned her that teething of the girl might cause a fever. The healer had left her herbs to prepare a tea that ought to help with it and Lexa was determined to try taking care of the slightly sick baby on her own first, before she would send for the healer again if Marie was not better by tomorrow.

She knew that she would still need to encourage the girl to eat once she woke again. Lexa stood up from the bed again, walking over to the entrance of the tent. She quickly asked for water to be brought to the tent and some fresh food for Marie to be prepared.

Once the water and a new portion of warm oatmeal had been brough to the tent, Lexa quickly prepared the tea. She slightly shook her head in amusement at noticing a little pot of honey added to her tray. Alira must have already taken a liking to the little girl.

Lexa returned to the site of the bed, sitting down again, before she gently reached out. She placed one hand on the child’s shoulder, while she caressed over the side of the baby’s face to rouse her slowly.

The baby’s body began to squirm visibly, as Marie woke up again. The fleeting smile which passed over her pouty lips when her big grey eyes recognized Lexa sitting next to her, vanished only a second later and if Lexa was not mistaken, a slight grimace of pain settled onto her roundish features.

Lexa pulled the little girl upwards and transferred her right into her lap, before Marie could begin to cry. It was obvious though that the baby was close to crying.

“Hush, little one” she tried to sooth the girl “I know you are not feeling good” she acknowledged.

Marie of course did not show any real reaction to the commander’s soothing words and the girl’s little sounds turned noticeably irritated.

“Ssshh” Lexa tried to quiet the girl down, rocking the child a little bit as she stood up to carry Marie over to the table, where Lexa had left the cup of tea and the bowl with oatmeal.

Rocking the girl did proof futile though and only a few moments later, Marie was full out crying, sobbing loudly in Lexa’s arms.

Lexa needed long moments to slowly convince the baby to drink at least a few sips of the tea she had prepared. She knew that she could only wait for it to hopefully kick in and reduce the little girl’s fever.

In the meantime, Lexa tried to divert the grumpy baby. She carried Marie through the tent, rocking her a little with each step. Lexa offered the little plush lamb to Marie in the hopes of getting her attention.

The child’s grey eyes seemed red-rimmed and swollen a little when she finally looked at Lexa.

The commander felt sorry for how badly the child obviously was feeling and she wished that she could somehow take the girl’s pains from her for the time being.

Marie let out a sound full of discontent, squirming slightly in the commander’s arms, until she had turned around. Marie now rested her head against Lexa’s shoulders. She had taken the lamb plushie into her own arms.

Lexa frowned once she noticed that Marie had begun to chew on one of the long ears of the toy. Nyko had told her though that it was normal for a teething child to bite on things in an attempt to soothe her own discomfort. So, she did not try to discourage the girl from doing so.

~ ~ ~

Lexa was still trying to just soothe the child, when Anya returned to the commander’s tent.

The general obviously had just returned from the training fields, dishevelled and slightly sweaty. Anya frowned slightly when she immediately noticed how discontent Marie appeared.

“Her temperature is too high and she is in pain” Lexa assessed with a sigh, adjusting her grip on the baby’s body.

“She is teething” Anya nodded her head. She remembered that her younger sister had been very grumpy during her teething time as well. There had been very little which could divert her sister back then and she tried to remember what her mother had done then.

“Hello, little one” the general addressed the girl in an exaggerated cheery tone, stepping closer to Lexa until the child’s grey eyes were finally resting on her.

Marie let out a slightly gurgling tone when she noticed Anya, stretching out her short chubby arms towards the general with the hint of a smile pulling at her pouty lips.

Lexa handed the baby over to her former mentor with a slight sigh. In the back of her mind, she felt dissatisfied that she had failed to truly comfort the baby.

Anya also felt the child’s forehead and she shook her head “Her temperature seems to have fallen again” she said towards Lexa. She noticed immediately that the child still had not been fed and stepped over to the table with her.

The general sat down, placing Marie on her lap and turning her around, so that the baby was facing the table. Anya carefully spooned up some of the oatmeal, bringing the spoon to the girl’s mouth.

Marie made a slight whining tone which may have been protest, before she turned her head away.

“Look how yummy this is” Anya said in a loud cheery tone, eating some of the food herself, actively chewing on the oatmeal, smiling and making sounds of enjoyment.

Lexa watched the general handle the blonde baby with a slight frown. She could not imagine seeing Anya this expressive ever.

It did seem to work though, as Marie was now watching the general in ennewed interest. She reached out towards the bowl with her little hands.

Just before the little girl could splash her hands into the oatmeal again, like she had done previously, Anya stopped her “No, no, little one” she gently chided the girl, spooning up more of the mushy oatmeal and offering it to the baby.

Thankfully, Marie now did not turn away her head and indeed let herself be fed with several spoons of the oatmeal in a row, before the food lost her interest again.

“Better than nothing, I guess” Anya finally gave up. She praised the child joyfully for having eaten at all. She sensed that it would remain problematic to get the girl to eat enough at least until her teething was over.

“How about going out with her again?” Anya proposed once she had gently cleaned around the girl’s mouth.

Lexa did not look too convinced of that plan, but the commander remained silent.

Anya furrowed her brows “She does not need to nap now and Marie needs to get used to being outside. You cannot keep her restricted to your tent”.

Lexa sighed under her breath and finally nodded in agreement. As if Indra had sensed her decision, the dark-skinned warrior appeared at the commander’s tent, asking to deliver the newest report on the situation with the invaders.

Lexa called out that they would come out now. Indra could make her report outside as well. She did not want to admit to it, but her mood was the slightest bit soured by the fact that it also had been Anya who made Marie eat, while she had failed at that.

She felt appeased somewhat, when the baby reached out to her, making a few demanding squeals in her direction.

“You will learn all this with time” Anya remarked in a cautious tone before they stepped out of the tent. Although her former second had tried to hide it, she had noticed the hints of disappointment in her green eyes.

Lexa halted in her step in surprise for a moment. Marie had taken hold of a few strands of her hair, playing with what she could reach of it and Lexa already expected to feel the girl tuck on it soon.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The weather was still warm and clear, so that Lexa could let Marie down at the pasture where the horses were grazing.

Marie did not show any real interest in the animals now and after her rather frightened reaction to the horses when Lexa had tried to introduce her to her own mare, she did not wish to force another encounter onto the little girl. Maybe Marie’s interest into the horses would grow with the time that she was surrounded by it. Lexa was fairly certain that the baby had not seen any animals before, so, she could understand that she was scared of them now.

Marie was just crawling around on her own for long moment, until Anya crouched down behind her and pulled her to her feet to make her walk a few steps.

Lexa could see Tris lurking around close to the pasture. The second was obviously deeply interest in Marie. Lexa had not inquired yet what had been told about Marie among the inhabitants of TonDC. If Anya would indeed help her in the future in taking of the young girl, then Anya’s second Tris would sooner or later play a part in Marie’s life as well. So, Lexa decided that Tris might as well be officially introduced to Marie now.

Anya was still crouched down slightly behind Marie, steading the young blonde girl as she took a few shaky steps, before she fell down on her bum again. It did not seem to pain her as much anymore though, as she clapped her chubby fists together, letting out a shrill bout of laughter.

Lexa finally openly motioned towards Tris, ordering the girl to come closer.

Tris’ brown eyes visibly showed her surprise and utter pride at being noticed by the commander herself.

For a moment, Lexa wondered just what Anya might have told her new second about her. It was more than obvious that the girl was deeply in awe with her.

Anya raised a brow in mute question at Lexa when she caught on to what was happening. Her attention had been focused on the young toddler so much, that she had not even noticed Tris watching them eagerly.

Before she could say anything though, Marie seemed to have torn a few blades of grass from the ground and threw them right against the side of Anya’s face which was turned to her. The baby clapped her little fists together again enthusiastically, while Anya looked at the girl with a slightly nonplussed but also rather unamused expression.

Marie did appear rather unfazed by the general’s slightly drawn together eyebrows and the hint of a scowl on her features. The little girl still happily laughed, clawing her fists into the grass on the ground under her hands and knees, obviously trying to rip more glass blades out.

Anya dodged the few grass blades which reached the short distance between them. Marie still obviously had fun at their little game.

Lexa let gaze switch between Anya and Marie and Tris who was approaching them now with a rather unsure smile.

“Commander” the young second greeted Lexa respectively, inclining her head for a moment.

Marie squealing loudly at Anya in that very moment broke any tension before it could really build up.

Tris’ nervousness melted away visibly and she smiled down at the baby playing around with Anya in the grass, seemingly forgetting Lexa’s presence for a moment or at least not associating her with her political role.

Marie had noticed Tris’ presence by now as well. The baby halted in her crawling, looking up at the older girl with her big grey eyes for a moment with her head tilted side-ways as if she was assessing the blonde girl.

Lexa only now noticed that Tris was holding a small ball behind her back and she smiled slightly. Anya’s second must have hoped to be allowed to play with Marie before she actually approached them. The baby’s presence of course would be common knowledge by now in TonDC and although Anya had not mentioned Tris asking after Marie, Lexa was sure that the general’s second must have been curious.

Marie changed her position from her hands and knees to sit back down upright, clapping a few times more – Lexa chuckled under her breath at the baby failing to connect her hands a few times clumsily – before the baby made a few loud noises at Tris.

Tris blinked at the young child a few times, unsure what she actually wanted. She had tried to ask Anya after the baby the commander had seemingly found in the woods. Rumours had spread quickly among the seconds and Tris knew that a few of them were just absurd. She had tried to stop listening to them when a boy her age had told her that the baby was magical in some form and could ignite a fire by touching something. Some had also said that the baby must have some form of disfigurement or would be partly a monster.

She could not find anything negatively prominent in the young child. She looked almost like any other baby did. Her very bright hair was unusual though and Tris had never seen this shade of hair paired with such silvery eyes either. She wasn’t sure if she ever had seen someone with hair this golden before.

The baby had infectious laugh though and how she was looking up at her, rocking the slightest bit on her bum sitting in the soft grass, just made Tris smile as well.

“Hello” Tris greeted the baby kindly, giving her a little wave, before she showed the ball to the young girl.

Lexa and Anya both watched Marie focus on the little ball which Tris had just rolled into her direction gently. The baby seemed to wait for a second if something would happen as the ball came to a stop in front of her in the grass, when it didn’t and she couldn’t reach it by reaching out, Marie reached out further, losing her balance promptly and rolling onto her side.

Lexa had already been prepared to jump in and catch Marie, but the girl merely rolled herself completely onto her hands and knees and crossed the remaining distance to the ball by crawling to it. Marie clumsily pushed the ball away from herself as she tried to touch it while still being in a crawling motion.

The baby let out another shrill shriek mixed with a laugh, crawling behind it faster now.

“Seems like she doesn’t want t play” Tris said to Anya, seemingly disappointed with that. The girl had obviously planned this out differently than it was happening now.

“I am not sure if Marie knows what a ball is” Anya said to her second in a patient tone.

“You may play with her later again” Lexa added, not trying to hide the corners of her lips tilting upwards into the hint of a smile, when Tris immediately turned her head to her, brown eyes wide and surprised.

“Really?!” the young second asked excitedly.

“If you are not under duty elsewhere” Anya cut in, her tone laced with a hint of strictness. She actually preferred her second to be close to her, so that she could keep an eye on her.

Tris nodded fervently. Her expression spoke clearly enough for how pleased and excited she was.

Probably more by accident than anything else, Marie managed to push the ball back into Tris’ direction and the baby actually halted in her crawling slightly away from Tris when the ball had rolled against one of the older girl’s boots.

“She either did already know a ball or she is learning extremely fast” Anya mused thoughtfully.

Lexa nodded mutely. Marie was indeed waiting for Tris to pass the ball back, as if the baby was familiar with this kind of game from the past. When Tris hesitated too long to do something, Marie seemed to make a huffing noise, flailing with her arms in clear rising distress. Her smile had also frozen and was displaced with an obvious discontent frown.

It seemed that Tris had indeed waited too long and although the older girl did pass the ball back, Marie had lost interest in their play. She let out a clearly unhappy wail, turning her head around to Lexa and holding her short chubby arms towards the commander in the clear demand to be picked up.

Lexa bend over immediately, picking up the baby from the grass and settling her into her arms, hushing at the upset little girl in a soft tone.

It took a few moments before Marie quietened down again. It had not really been Lexa’s attempts at soothing her, but actually a shiny decoration in one of her braids dangling in front of Marie’s field of vision which diverted the girl.

Tris who was still standing with them laughed for a moment at the commander’s slight hiss when Marie suddenly pulled strongly on the braid to get the shiny object. She fell silent again though when Anya cleared her throat. Thankfully it did not appear as if the commander had taken offence from her laughing.

“Why is she so fascinated with hair?” Lexa huffed out in a slightly annoyed tone, as she tried to pry Marie’s chubby fingers from her braid gently.

Anya chuckled “She can reach it easily and she would be fascinated with anything dangling in front of her eyes” she had added the last part in a rather dry tone.

The general now had to suppress a laugh when Lexa muttered under her breath in a grumbling tone “…might need to have them cut then”.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Of course, Lexa had not let her hair get cut. She had asked Alira to slightly adapt her hairstyle though, so that her braids would remain trailing down her shoulders and not always be dangling directly in front of the baby’s view.

A couple of days had passed by quickly since Lexa had encountered Marie in the woods and the commander was surprised by how fast she had gotten used to the baby being part of her life. They had almost worked out a kind of daily routine by now.

Thankfully the tea from Nyko had helped greatly in reducing Marie’s discomfort at teething and his ointment had almost healed the child’s inflamed skin by now, making her more agile.

Before Marie had literally stumbled into her life, Lexa’s days had been structured well from sunrise to twilight, packed with all of her duties.

Now, with a baby to take care of, Lexa’s days were structures by Marie’s needs and also her moods. She was not sure how this would work out long-term, but for now and as long as she did not need to take action with the rest of the invaders, she did not mind the change.

The child’s sleeping schedule had gotten more regular by now and the baby was much less cranky leading Lexa to think that whoever had taken care of Marie before had not paid attention to a regular sleeping pattern.

Lexa had not heeded Anya’s advice very well to let the baby fall asleep in the bed alone. After Lexa had carried the small girl through her tent a few times to make her nap, the baby now craved the physical closeness of being in her arms to fall asleep. The child was sleeping so soundly by now that Lexa could easily extract herself from the baby and place her on the bed without waking her up again in the process.

She had never seriously contemplated the thought of having a baby of her own. But now that she had Marie in her life Lexa wanted to see the baby smile, make her happy, keep her safe and make sure that she grew up into a strong woman one day. She did not know if she would live long enough to actually have the chance and observe the baby grow up, but Marie had woken a yearning in herself which Lexa had not ever thought possible to exist.

Marie woke up very early on her own, mostly already before dawn. Lexa did not mind that part as she used to get up before dawn herself in Polis to have at least a few moments to herself before her duties began for the day.

The baby was unbelievably cute in waking up in the morning. She slept with her thumb firmly between her plump pink lips and the plush lamb was always near as well. When she woke up, she let go of her thumb, reaching her hands above her head and stretching herself as long as her little body would go beside Lexa, letting out little sighs of contentment. This almost silent movements were mostly already enough to rouse Lexa as well and the commander would watch the baby for a moment. Marie’s expression immediately switched from slightly sleepy to a calm happiness when Lexa reached out and caressed over her round cheek, letting her finger trail down the baby’s body until she could very lightly tickle the baby. Marie had an almost bell-like laughter and she helplessly flailed around with her chubby arms and legs, squirming on her back at being tickled.

Depending on how early Marie woke up in the morning, Lexa either spent a few long moments just cuddling with the baby or got both of them out of bed, starting with bathing the baby and changing her diapers. After a few days now Lexa did not have any problems any more with fastening the cloths around the child’s little body and Marie was thankfully a very patient baby who could remain still for some time.

No matter how obedient Marie was during diaper change and being bathed, the baby was a very picky eater. Lexa was not at all convinced that this was only due to her discomfort of teething. It was hard to get the child to eat and although she had already changed the feeding rhythm from three larger meals to instead some milk with a number of snacks through the day, the baby still often refused food. It was easier currently to get to drink milk but Nyko had cautioned her that milk was not substantial enough for a baby of Marie’s age if she refused solid foods completely.

Anya was thankfully of great help. Her former mentor had so much more experience in handling a baby and Marie had obviously taken a liking to the general as well.

Marie was young enough that Lexa could easily take her to any meetings she had right now with her scouts. So far, Lexa had been lucky in all of them. The baby had been occupied either with her plush lamb or been just mutely blinking at the strangers. Marie still seemed to have an instant dislike to Indra and she began to lowly wail whenever she caught sight of the woman, so that the dark-skinned warrior was now forced to remain a few feet away from the commander during meetings.

Lexa tried to spend as much time outside with Marie as possible. The child was easily fascinated by almost everything around her. Lexa indeed wondered if Marie even knew a tiny fraction of the world around them, everything seemed to be new to her.

She highly suspected that Anya was going easier on her second Tris right now. The young warrior was finding more and more time to play a few minutes with Marie. Alira had told her one morning that Tris had become a sort of celebrity to the other youths of TonDC for suddenly being allowed close to the commander and the baby from the stars.

Now that she and Anya were actively encouraging the baby’s attempts at walking, helping her when she needed, Marie quickly made visible progress. Lexa knew that it would probably only take a few further days until she would be occupied with chasing behind the baby.

Marie had not attempted to speak in full words yet, still only babbling incoherently from time to time. Lexa knew that babies developed speech at different speeds and she did not wish to hurry the little girl. She still tried to address Marie as often and clearly as possible, speaking with the baby in a cheery tone she first had to get used to using at all. It was enough for now that Marie usually gave a happy squeal if she was addressed directly.

Although Lexa had brought the baby a few times back to the pasture with the horses, Marie visibly tried to keep her distance from the big animals, tensing when she was directly faced with one, trying to actively move away. Lexa was not sure yet how she could possibly help Marie with getting used to horses now. She knew though that the baby sooner or later would also need to be up on a horse with her and the very latest occasion would be once she could travel back to Polis.

The rest of the invaders had been quiet during the last days. Her scouts had told her that they had erected a sort of fence around their metal home. It would not hold against an attack, but she had not yet given the order to kill them. Thus far, she had only let her scouts watch them more closely.

~ ~ ~

It was midday now and Lexa had brought Marie along to the training pits. Anya was in the process of showing Tris a few physical exercises to strengthen the girl’s core.

Lexa had sat down on the edge of the training pits with Marie. The baby was sitting right beside her legs, doing her favourite activity outside, namely, plucking a few blades of grass from the ground and throwing them up in the air in front of her face.

Lexa let the girl go ahead, watching her in amused silence although she already knew that she would have a hard time brushing the grass from the baby’s soft curls later.

Her gentle smile froze on her features though when Lexa spotted something peculiar on the sky, another thing was falling to earth.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It seemed that Marie was too young to notice the sudden change in Lexa’s mood. The toddler did momentarily stop plucking grass blades from the ground, but only to try and throw a small fist-full right at Lexa’s face when the baby noticed that she no longer had the attention of the woman.

Lexa just blinked at the girl for a second, before her gaze returned to the sky. So far, they had no idea if there were more people going to join the youths which had invaded her lands. They obviously had an answer to this question now. Lexa knew that a pair of her scouts which had circled through the forest around TonDC had encountered one lone guy from the invaders last night and just as she had ordered, the male had been captured and was awaiting questioning right now. Lexa had wanted to let him wait for a few hours, all too aware that the waiting alone would already unsettle the boy.

Anya had stopped her training with Tris and the general had seen the contraption falling from the sky as well, while Tris was staring up at the sky open-mouthed obviously surprised and her light brown eyes looked alarmed.

Marie was now watching Lexa with her large grey eyes as the commander had swiftly gotten up. The baby did not seem to have noticed what was going on and was now just reacting to the people around her.

Other people in TonDC had of course seen the new object on the sky as well and it was obvious that fear was spreading through the villagers.

Indra was approaching the training pits with fast strides being followed closely by a pair of younger warriors, both seemed to chattering among themselves excitedly, pointing at the sky a few times although the contraption must have long crashed to the ground somewhere.

If Lexa was not mistaken, she could actually faintly make out a hint of smoke far in the distance, probably close to the river.

Marie made a slight squealing noise, trying to get some attention back, although the baby was already looking between Lexa and Anya now who had stepped closer to them as well.

Without saying a word, Anya bent down and scooped the baby up into her arms, settling the little body onto her hip. They both knew that Marie was unsettled by Indra’s presence and Lexa would need to organize a small scouting team to investigate just what had fallen into their lands now.

Internally, Anya had hoped that the invaders would have remained alone. They were only untrained youths and no real threat so far after all.

Marie was obviously a little surprised and she kicked her legs a few times, not really content and she stretched out her short chubby arms towards Lexa making a few more noises.

Anya quickly adjusted her grip around the baby’s small body, jostling her up and down a few times on her hip, which quickly diverted Marie’s attention again.

The child’s round features which had been displeased, now again showed a happy smile and the little girl elicited a bright gurgling laugh.

Tris quickly asked Anya if she could accompany the scouting team which Indra was going to lead, seeking for the second crash place.

The general just curtly inclined her head. She was not needed to specifically tell her second to listen to Indra in her stead, Tris already knew well enough how to behave if her first was not around and someone else held the command. The young warrior was visibly excited about being allowed to go as well and she quickly hurried away to store her training weapons back where they belonged.

Marie was watching Tris hurry away for a moment, before she began to fidget again, seemingly wanting the older girl to stay with them. The girl was so occupied looking behind Tris, that she did not even pay any mind to Indra’s appearance.

The dark-skinned warrior was speaking with the commander a few feet away, arguing about what steps needed to be done now.

Lexa already had decided that she would now go to question the boy the scouts had brought to TonDC last night and that the frequency of scouts circling around TonDC would be increased as well. They did not know if the first thing falling from the sky had been overlooked by the Mountain Men, but Lexa highly doubted that they would have missed this one as well. She wanted the patrols increased in the direction of the Mountain in addition.

Anya jostled the baby again, even adding a few light tickles to truly get the girl’s attention.

Marie let out a few shrill chuckles, trying to bend away from the fingers tickling her sides as far as Anya’s grip allowed. The little girl feebly tried to push away Anya’s long fingers with a protesting squeal, before she seemed to change her tactic and instead leaned as close to Anya as she could, giving the woman a charming wide smile, before she brought her thumb to her mouth and sucked on it.

Anya slightly shook her head at the girl “You are indeed a little charmer, aren’t you?” she asked the girl with an amused tone.

~ ~ ~

Marie was not really pleased when Lexa walked away from the training pits and the baby was vocally expressing her discontentment.

Anya tried her best to keep the baby happy regardless. It was time to actually bring the little girl to take a nap, but Marie did not seem to want to settle down. She was restless and Anya knew that the girl’s mood would get even worse if she was overly tired because she did not get enough sleep.

At first, Anya had tried to get the little girl to eat something, but Marie had just turned her head away whenever Anya brought a spoon to her little pouty mouth. Once Anya then just placed the spoon down in rising annoyance, Marie had managed to let her little balled hands splash right into the bowl, splashing the mushy substance all over herself and even hitting Anya with some of it.

Anya let out a sigh, but she knew that reprimanding the little girl would be of little use. She just pushed the bowl completely out of reach of the little girl. “No food for now it is then, young one” Anya said, taking the baby up from the chair again and walking over towards the bathing area of the tent.

Thankfully Marie at least now was used to water and actually enjoyed being bathed. The girl had taken a liking to splashing around with the water. Anya just did not like at all that she was partly getting soaked as well and she frowned when she noticed how the baby only seemed to get more awake with each passing moment.

Marie did already not want to be dried off, instead she wanted to toddle through the tent, switching between crawling and pulling herself up onto her feet at the table and taking a few wobbly steps through the tent before she lost her balance and fell down again.

Anya watched the baby for a few moments, trying to dry off her own clothes at least slightly.

It was obvious that Marie was having fun, but the baby was supposed to go to sleep and nap for some time. She was happy though that Marie was not actively seeking for Lexa now. The baby would need to get used to being with other people as Lexa could not always take care of her round the clock.

“Marie” Anya finally addressed the baby. She still needed to swaddle the little girl and dress her again.

Marie only stopped momentarily in her movements, tilting her head to the side, looking up at Anya with her wide shining grey eyes, before she laughed and moved away from Anya on wobbly legs.

Anya sighed under her breath for a second before she smiled as well “You wanna play again, mhh?”

Marie just gave another laugh, looking over her shoulder to check that Anya was indeed following her.

Anya indulged the little girl for a few moments before she made a show of “catching” the child, eliciting even louder laughter from the baby.

Marie was thankfully corporative and let herself be swaddled and dressed swiftly. Putting her to bed was a whole other matter though.

Even though Anya lied down together with the little girl and handed the small lamb toy to the baby, Marie obviously did not want to sleep at all.

The baby wiggled out of Anya’s arms and climbed around the bed.

Anya watched the girl play around for long moments. “Little one, you ought to go to sleep” she tried to address the baby.

All the reactions she got though, was a little laugh and the lamb toy being thrown at her.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Clarke’s POV

Clarke brushed a blonde lock out of her forehead, looking around the forest again. For the fact that Finn was claiming to really know his way around the forest, she was not certain that they were indeed walking in the right direction.

“Ease up, princess” Finn’s charming voice penetrated Clarke’s thoughts.

A light blush covered her cheeks at his outright flirty tone, before she shook her head at her own stupidity. Although she had enjoyed the time, they had spent in the small bunker Finn had discovered during the sudden appearance of the acid fog, she knew that it was foolish to lose her mind over a mere crush now.

“Whatever fell from the Ark, is not large enough to carry more than one person” Clarke evaded Finn’s eyes and looked right ahead. A small part of her somehow hoped that it would be her mother who had came to earth for her. She doubted that she could find it in herself to forgive her mother any time soon for her hand in her father’s death, but on the other hand her mother was the only one she had left now.

Thankfully, Finn seemed to have gotten the hint and did not continue to try and flirt with her.

It still took them some more time to reach the crash site and Clarke’s presumption was confirmed when they found a lone woman in the escape pod.

She watched the young woman get out of the pod with a slight smile, wondering if they had appeared this taken aback by the new nature around themselves when they had left the dropship as well. Clarke’s smile completely froze though and she felt her stomach plummet when the woman recognized Finn and launched herself at him. She did not know where to really look at, when the pair exchanged a kiss.

Trying to do something useful, Clarke stepped closer to the escape pod, looking inside for some useful equipment. She came back empty-handed though and frowned at Raven.

Raven and Finn had separated slightly by now and the young mechanic suddenly appeared furious.

Clarke needed a moment to understand that there had been a radio in the pod together with Raven and that was missing now. She knew that Bellamy had stormed out of their camp as well when they noticed the escape pod on the horizon. Although she could not understand why the young man would wish to sabotage their only opportunity to communicate with the rest of their people, the only explanation for the missing radio was that Bellamy had located Raven before them and stolen the radio.

Her thoughts about Bellamy were stopped though, when Raven seemed to remember something.

“Where is Marie?” the mechanic asked in a concerned tone. Abby had noticed the baby’s wrist band going dead a few days ago and whatever little hope the council had had that earth was survivable, was crushed relentlessly at this negative sign. The doctor had risked her life to make it possible for her to get down to earth and hopefully be able to communicate that earth was indeed survivable, but Abby had also wanted to know about the little baby, still not agreeing with the decision to even send her down with the other juvenile criminals.

Clarke’s anger at Bellamy evaporated fully at that question and her features filled with worry. It had been a few days ago that Diggs had taken a walk with Marie through the forest around their camp and had not returned. The baby had been inconsolable for some time and had developed a most likely painful rash and Clarke did not have any supplies to help her. They had taken turns between Bellamy, Octavia, Finn, Wells and Diggs to try and sooth the baby. Some of the other delinquents had gotten so annoyed by the little girl crying for hours non-stop that there had even been talk about just smothering her with a pillow if she would not shut up.

On the morning when Diggs had still not returned with Marie, Clarke had insisted on forming small search parties, looking for him and Marie. In the end, they had indeed found Diggs. The boy seemed to have walked into a grounder trap, but there had been no sign of the whereabouts of their youngest member. Clarke had insisted to continue searching for Marie. Although the baby was not able to walk really well yet, she could still have covered some distance by crawling.

The forest was dangerous though and once they had failed to locate the little girl after three more days, Clarke had finally agreed to Bellamy, that it was sadly the most likely outcome that Marie had died, either of starvation or that the baby had been killed by a predator. Her stomach still churned with guilt and sadness when she thought of the little blonde baby.

Raven furrowed her brow “She isn’t with you anymore, is she?” she checked. She could understand that the teenagers had taken off the wrist bands in rebellion, but she knew how they worked and she doubted that they would have tried to remove the wrist band from the delicate arm of a baby.

Clarke finally shook her head “We do not know where she is” she admitted in a defeated tone. She remained silent for a long moment, before she sighed and asked “Her wrist band…?” she trailed off uncertainly.

Raven shook her head in the negative and more words were not necessary. She narrowed her eyes almost suspiciously when Clarke’s eyes misted over with a sheen of tears and Finn immediately stepped closer to comfort the blonde girl, looking deeply sad himself.

Raven’s appearance at the camp of the 100 was somewhat overshadowed by the confirmation that Marie was indeed most likely dead. Clarke had asked when the wrist band had shown the baby’s death and it fit roughly to the night when Diggs had not returned with her.

Raven seemed to consider that some of them grieved for Marie’s death and she even waited with confronting Bellamy.

To Clarke it was not surprising that the young man was affected by the news, he had been one of those taking the most care of the baby together with his sister Octavia.

~ ~ ~

Anya was not really surprised that Lexa wanted to leave TonDC for some time after questioning the captured invader. The commander had been gone from her tent for at least two hours and the knuckles of her hands were visibly scraped.

Lexa did not seem too satisfied with what information the boy had been able to offer. Their scouts had already figured out roughly how many invaders had come into their lands. The boy confirmed though that the invaders did not have real weapons beside one sole gun. Lexa had feared that they had more but just had kept them hidden this far.

The boy had reacted almost pathetically. She had not been sure though if his seemingly easy offer of information was just a ruse. It seemed though that the boy indeed had not much valuable information at all.

Anya had stayed with Marie while the baby had finally drifted off to take her nap an undefined time later, sort of falling asleep while she had still been playing.

The baby woke up some time later when Lexa was still relaying to Anya what the captured boy had said during his questioning, which went unnoticed by Lexa and Anya.

Marie needed a few moments to climb down from the bed without assistance, but the baby had of course heard Lexa’s voice behind the thin curtain, where the commander was cleaning her fingers. She wobbled over towards the curtain, holding onto the material for support.

Anya looked over to the bed when she heard a slight ripping noise. The material of the curtain was frail and even though Marie barely weighed anything, the pressure the baby was exerting on the material was enough to cause a rip.

The general quickly walked over to the little girl and scooped her back up into her arms, giving her a gentle smile.

Lexa’s features had immediately softened as well losing their hard edges and the worry faded from her green eyes.

Marie let out a gurgling noise stretching her short chubby arms towards the commander in a clear demanding gesture.

Lexa took the little girl over from Anya “Hello there, little one” she greeted the child in a kind tone “Did you have a good nap?” she questioned the child, not expecting an answer.

The girl’s light giggle was answer enough and Lexa took a deep breath “I want to take a walk” she proclaimed. Marie did not need a diaper change yet, so, they could go after gathering a few things for the baby.

The scouting team which included Tris had not returned to TonDC yet, so, Anya was free to accompany Lexa and Marie into the forest.

Lexa enjoyed the silence of the forest.

Anya knew her former second’s moods well enough to know that the younger woman did not wish to talk momentarily.

Marie was of course not doing the same and the baby continued to stretch out her little hands trying to catch a few leaves falling from the trees and obviously having great fun at it.

Lexa finally came to a halt in a clearing which was covered by highly grown grass and flowers.

They sat down together and Marie began to crawl around. Although she plucked a few more grass blades from the ground, she suddenly halted, tilting her head to the side and inspecting a few flowers with a weird expression which made both Anya and Lexa pause.

Both of them watched in a mixture of astonishment and surprise how the baby stretched out her small fingers and right before her fingers touched the wilted flower the child was inspecting, her little fingers seemed to get a weird golden glow.

Once the girl’s fingers had some distance to the flower again, the flower bloomed stronger than any other flower on the clearing. The girl sat right in front of the flower and clapped her hands together in joy.

It took Lexa and Anya a few seconds to grasp what they had just observed, both of them immediately got up, casting worried glances around that someone else could have just observed the same thing.

Lexa almost instinctively rushed over to the baby, scooping her up into her arms.

Marie blinked a few times and shook her head, before she gave a protesting squeal, pointing at the ground again with a frown, wanting to be put down again.

Lexa did ignore the child though, only tightening her hold around the small body in her arms instead, to Marie’s clear displeasure.

The child did not understand what was happening and she began to cry in reaction, trying to push away from Lexa.

Lexa had no intention of letting the child go though, as she hurried back towards TonDC. Anya had not spotted anyone close to them, but neither of them spoke a word about what had just happened on their way until they reached the commander’s tent again.

Lexa felt guilty at finding the baby asleep in her arms, sucking firmly on her thumb and having clear tear tracks on her round cheeks. She placed the bay on the bed, tucking her under a fur.

“How did she do that?” she asked in an incredulous tone towards her former mentor.

Anya looked deep in thought, she faintly remembered to have heard an old myth about powers like this and she told what she could remember to Lexa.

Both of them had troubled minds now. How could such a power be hidden?


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“We can send out messengers to the Desert Clan and inquire about the myth I do remember having heard somewhere there” Anya mused in a thoughtful tone.

After they had returned hurriedly to TonDC, Lexa had ordered Gustus to stand guard at her tent as she trusted the burly man the most to not even attempt to listen to what was spoken within the commander’s tent.

Lexa shook her head at her former first. She did not want to even take the smallest risk now. It would be dangerous enough already to keep the little baby close to her and raise the child herself. Sending out messengers to ask about old stories which were nothing but a nearly forgotten memory now would only carry the possibility of awakening someone’s interest. She could impossibly send out messengers without some of her enemies noticing. Lexa knew that queen Nia for example was an intelligent woman who would be able to add up on her own what Lexa’s interest in such a myth must mean.

“I can go myself” Anya offered in a quieter tone looking down at the sleeping baby. Right now, the child was tucked into a few furs, nothing more than a small bundle really. Her roundish features were just barely visibly next to the soft fur and a few of her light locks were peeking through as well.

Lexa had sat down on the edge of the mattress and lightly placed her hand over the sleeping baby in a mute protective gesture. She again shook her head, meeting the general’s gaze for a moment “I need you here, Anya” she exclaimed in an honest tone.

Although Anya looked slightly flattered, she objected “There are others who can help you in taking care of Marie. I am not the only one with experience with children her age”.

Lexa chose her next words very carefully “This is not just about Marie” she said calmly. They had never spoken about their separation after Costia’s death but she sensed that it was time to breech this subject now. “I cannot undo the affront I have caused by sending you from Polis, but I want you to return to the capitol with me” she explained.

If Anya was surprised by this open admission, the general was controlling her features too strongly for her true emotions to shine through. The older woman merely inclined her head in mute acknowledgement before she turned from the bed and crossed the way through the tent to the table, pouring herself a cup of water from the pitcher waiting there.

Lexa hid her slight smile by turning her attention fully onto the sleeping baby next to her. She knew that Anya did not like to speak about things like this. The general was bad at apologising and also was not really gracious in accepting an apology either. She still felt a heavy conscience for causing the little girl to cry earlier but she could only imagine how scared Marie must have been by their reaction. She knew that they would not be able to just question the girl about her powers.

Had the child ever used them before? Did Marie herself even realize about them?

Lexa really had no idea how they were supposed to keep this talent hidden from everyone around them. They could not explain to Marie that she was not supposed to use this power.

She sighed under her breath “She will be sought after by everyone if this power becomes known”.

Anya was leaning against the table now but had turned around to face the younger woman and she nodded in agreement “We will somehow have to make sure that it becomes not known then”.

“You don’t say” Lexa retorted in an edgy tone. She had internally already tried to gather reasons as to why she wanted to raise the child herself, expecting to have to justify herself strongly in front of her flamekeeper once they would be able to travel back to Polis. “The better question will be how to keep this hidden” she added in a calmer voice again.

Anya had raised a brow critically at her young leader, but merely nodded again, only giving a slight grunt and no verbal answer as of yet. The general’s features showed that she was falling back into deep thoughts, probably trying to think of ways on how to solve their dilemma as well.

~ ~ ~

No matter how long they tried to come up with a strategy on how to best keep Marie’s weird magical powers hidden, Lexa and Anya remained empty-handed. The best they could hope for now was that the girl would not try to use it any time soon or had not used it on purpose before either.

Their musings were broken up when Marie awoke again some time later.

Lexa was still sitting on the bed next to the little girl and she felt the child’s body tensing under the furs.

Her large grey eyes blinked open only a few seconds later. The tiredness vanished out of them very quickly and unfortunately was replaced with a mixture of confusion and fear. The child’s roundish features began to pull together into a frown and her lower lip trembled suspiciously as if she was only seconds away from breaking out into a bout of fresh tears. 

Lexa reached out with both hands and quickly pulled the baby into her arms including the furs which were still wrapped around her.

“Hey, little one, hush” she tried to sooth the child in a soft tone, hoping to signal to her that she was absolutely safe now.

Marie still appeared rather unsettled and no smile returned to her little mouth, while her gaze seemed to remain wary. At least the baby did not burst into tears again for now.

“You must be hungry, little one” Lexa said to the little baby, rocking her a little bit, before she got up from the bed, carrying Marie towards the table.

Anya was looking at the both of them with the hint of a smile and she readily accepted the little bundle into her arms when Lexa indicated so.

The commander stepped to the entrance of the commander’s tent and quickly ordered Gustus to go and fetch something to eat for Marie.

Anya noticed that Marie smelled suspiciously and removed the bundle of furs from her small body, letting it drop onto the table in front of her. The smell just got more intensely, confirming her suspicion that the child needed a change of diapers.

Marie’s features twisted into a grimace when she began to move a little within Anya’s arms now that she was freed of the furs around her.

“Now, now, you will get fresh diapers immediately” Anya said, hoping that the girl would not start crying before she could tend to her obvious needs.

“What is wrong?” Lexa asked, appearing back behind Anya and noticing that the little child looked anything but content within the general’s hold.

“Your little one needs a change of diapers” Anya informed the commander with a slight raise of her brow, as she mutely handed back the now slightly struggling baby “Your turn” she commented drily.

Lexa only rolled her eyes at the general, before she shushed at the little blonde girl in a soft cooing tone “You will feel better immediately, little one”.

She had learned by now that it was a wise idea to offer a small toy to Marie while she tried to change her diapers. It kept the little girl focused on something else and made her far less likely to try and move away.

The baby’s small lamb plushie did the trick now as well and Marie immediately began to chew on one of its long ears, while Lexa quickly undressed the little girl.

“You are being such a good girl” Lexa praised the child in a euphoric tone. After she had divested the baby of her soiled diaper, cleaned her skin and carefully applied the healing cream on her child’s skin, Lexa quickly fastened a new diaper around the girl’s legs.

She reached out and lightly tickled over the child’s exposed belly. In the few days in which the girl had been in her custody now, it was already visible that the baby had regained a little bit of weight and she was looking well-nourished now.

Marie twisted and bent her little body under the commander’s gentle attack and the little girl was laughing brightly, as she started to kick her little legs and arms around as well.

Lexa was only glad that the child had stopped looking frightened of her again as she stopped tickling the baby a few moments later. Gently, she also wiped away the dried tracks of the tears the baby had shed earlier, before she also fully dressed the baby again.

Marie was still smiling softly, when the commander took the baby back into her arms, just as a handmaid entered the commander’s tent with a small tray holding various articles of food.

Unexpectedly, the baby hid her face against the commander’s shoulder when the unknown woman stepped into her field of vision as if she wanted to hide herself.

Lexa let the baby be until they were alone again and she just sat down on a chair together with her, turning her around to face the table.

Marie seemed to like to eat a certain kind of bread which was baked into small bars. They were usually eaten more as a snack than an actual meal and somehow Marie did not really chew on them, but actually sucked on them.

Anya watched the girl “eat” with a slight grimace of disgust. As the child was sucking on the bread, it was getting crumbly and the moist crumbs were quickly smeared all over her little hands and all around her mouth. “You should just give her smaller pieces of it” she commented after some time.

Lexa slightly shook her head. She had tried cutting the bread into nearly bite-sized pieces but the child was not interested in them then, but only liked the bread in the longer shape. The little girl also did not eat the residual part of the bread which was nearly crumbled in her small fist.

Marie’s face scrunched up when she looked down at her own hand and she made a whiny tone, giving her hands a shake as if she wanted the bread crumbs to just fall down. She had gotten them mixed with too much of her own saliva though and they were sticking to her skin now.

Lexa was prepared though and kept a little towel in reach. She quickly took a hold of the child’s flailing chubby arm and gently tried to remove as much from the bread as possible from her skin.

Marie immediately stopped her struggle and only reached out to take another piece of the bread, giving a happy gurgle as she did so.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

After the baby had finished eating, it was obvious that the child was in a good mood again and although full of energy after her earlier nap.

Marie wiggled in Lexa’s lap to be let down from the table and once the commander carefully hoisted the child on the ground next to her, Marie began to crawl through the tent.

Lexa and Anya both watched the little girl move through the tent in silence for long moments.

Marie randomly picked anything up from the ground which she could find, inspecting the item – no matter if it was a shoe, an item of clothing or even a dagger – before she let them drop down again and moved on.

Once the baby picked up the dagger, Anya’s brows furrowed “You will need to keep everything even more in order now”. Both of them were ready to jump up any second, in case the toddler would manage to get the dagger out of its sheath, but Marie lost interest in it, before she could harm herself with the blade.

The next thing Marie spotted on the ground though, could be dangerous in another way. The little girl had found one of the beads Lexa wore as accessories in her hair. Her little fingers rolled it around a few moments, before she pulled it to her mouth in her small fist.

Anya had just seen something glistening in the baby’s fist before Marie was already chewing on whatever she had picked up. The general quickly got up and carefully hoisted the child up from the ground, tilting her head forward so that she hopefully would not swallow what was in her mouth.

“Come on, little one, spit it out” Anya tried to command the baby in a hopeful tone.

Marie just blinked at the general in confusion though, of course, not opening her mouth.

Anya grimaced slightly as she reached out, trying to open the child’s mouth as gentle as possible. It thankfully only took her a few second to fish the little item out between the baby’s pouty lips. She grimaced again though when she looked at her hand now, distinctly wanting to wash it at once.

“You definitely need to make your tent toddler-proof” Anya said, handing over the squirming baby to the commander as she got up to clean her fingers.

Lexa did not have time to do that now though.

Shouts suddenly resonated outside of the tent. Lexa adjusted her grip on the baby, much to Marie’s dislike who obviously wanted to be placed on the ground again, and went outside to see what was going on.

A few of the inhabitants of TonDC were pointing at the sky, while others seemed in a hurry to start barricading as few buildings as possible.

Lexa quickly turned around again. She knew what it meant that the sky was pitch black in the distance. A strong storm was on the way towards the village and the villagers always sought shelter in the caves close to the woods in these instances, which happened often during this time of the year.

Anya was just drying off her hands and looking at Lexa in silent question.

“A storm will hit the village soon” Lexa proclaimed, carrying Marie over to the bed and shortly placing her on it.

Behind her, the tent flap was pushed open again and Alira entered “Commander, what do you need to me to do?” the handmaid asked respectfully.

But Lexa shook her head, there was nothing in her tent which needed to be saved. She did ask the handmaid though to ready a bag with a few things for the baby.

Just now, a loud crack of thunder, followed by lightening was the first sign of the storm, before sudden strong rain started to splatter against the material of the tent.

Marie had crawled around the bed at first until she had reached her little lamb toy. Once the thunder struck, the baby’s grey eyes were wide as she looked around in a mixture of confusion and fear.

Lexa highly doubted that the baby had experienced a strong storm yet and the little girl’s immediate reaction confirmed that suspicion.

Alira also quickly readied a pair of furs and clothing for the commander while she was at it.

Anya had stepped over to the bed and pulled the little girl into her arms, before the baby could start wailing. The little girl’s lower lip had already been trembling and she shrieked in frightened surprise when another loud bout of thunder resonated outside.

Tris appeared in the entrance to the commander’s tent, already carrying a bag of her own, knowing full well on how to prepare alone.

~ ~ ~

It took them only a few moments to get ready.

Lexa’s horse had not been set free from TonDC yet, so, they decided that Lexa would carry the baby with her on the horse, while Anya and Tris followed by foot.

Lexa mounted her mare while Alira stood next to the horse, holding the little girl who still just appeared scared by what was going on around her. Once the handmaid handed the baby over to her, the commander used her red sash to wrap around the baby’s small body, fastening the girl in a secure sling to her front.

Marie seemed to be quite happy about her placement though and Lexa felt the baby’s chubby fingers taking a hold of the collar of her shirt only a few moments later.

Lexa kicked her horse into motion, feeling the rain beating down on them relentlessly. She tried to cover as much of the baby as possible, but she could already imagine that the little girl would still surely get soaked before they reached the safety of the caves.

The way to the caves thankfully was over quickly as they did not have to walk. In front of the cave, Lexa carefully dismounted, keeping hold of the little girl’s body beneath her red sash. She grimaced slightly when she realized just how wet the material had gotten. Somehow, she highly doubted that the child’s body could fight off a sickness easily.

She pushed the wet material away from the little girl’s face. Marie’s little fingers were still holding onto the collar of her shirt and she was looking up at the commander with wide grey eyes.

Lexa let go of horse’s reigns and let her horse disappear into the woods, trusting that it would seek shelter on its own and also return again once the storm had passed the area hopefully by morning of the following day.

She walked over to the caves and entered one of them where Gustus was already waiting for her.

Marie had taken up to suck on one of her thumbs again in the meantime.

Lexa was thankful to notice that the things which Alira had packed into a bag for them were still dry.

So, she could lay out a fur and place the baby on it. Lexa quickly tried to get the baby out of her wet clothes, which did not seem to be really to Marie’s liking.

The little girl was frowning heavily and every time Lexa lightly pushed her to lie down on her back, she turned around on her hands and knees and tried to crawl away.

Lexa was slowly losing her patience with the little girl as she wanted to get her fully dried off. She halted though when Marie started to giggle, obviously having spotted something of interest.

She had not reached out in time though and the baby began to crawl right through the cave naked as she was born.

Marie must have spotted Anya and Tris entering the cave and she obviously wanted to get into their direction.

Anya intercepted the baby before she could reach the fire which had been lighted in the middle of the cave.

“Hello, little one, are you happy to see me?” the general greeted the baby enthusiastically. She bent down and took her up from the ground “You are wet, little one” she assessed critically, noticing how her blonde locks stuck to her round features and how damp her skin still felt, as she brought the baby back to the commander.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Anya carefully handed the little naked girl back to Lexa who had just remained where she was on the fur.

The baby squealed a little in contradiction, flapping around her arms as she was handed down and kicking her legs until her small feet touched the ground again.

“Shhh, we need to get you to dry, little one” Lexa tried to sooth the child in a soft tone. She lifted the baby’s body up, so that she could place her down in a lying position right onto a dry towel.

Marie immediately began to wiggle around restlessly though and when Lexa did not allow her to move away and kept a gentle hold on the child’s body, the baby began to cry in protest.

Anya tried to help Lexa in calming the child down. The general got the small plush lamb for the baby, offering it to her, but Marie was not interested in it at the moment.

Her former whimpers were slowly developing into shriller screams.

It was obvious that Lexa did not fully know yet on how to deal with the little girl being so discontented.

Anya nodded towards her former second when Lexa halted in trying to dry down Marie and keep her lying down as well.

The general tried catching the baby’s attention first with tutting noises and when that failed as well, she searched through her pockets.

Although the blonde child was not interested in her plushie, her grey eyes followed the few colourful ribbons Anya let dangle directly in front of her roundish features.

Marie immediately ceased in her crying and her large eyes followed the ribbons swishing back and forth, picking her interest.

Lexa slightly shook her head in exasperation at the baby. It was already getting late, but the little girl seemed hyped up if anything and definitely not as if she might be going to sleep any time soon. She guessed that the sudden trip through the forest would have been very exiting for the child.

A few of the warrior who had begun to file into the cave as well, were openly surprised to see their commander in the process of drying off and putting clothes on the little girl.

Marie was trying with all her might to reach out as high as her short chubby arms could get to catch a hold of the ribbons Anya was still moving around over her features.

The little game kept the baby thankfully occupied enough so that Lexa could finish getting the girl clothed in a fresh and dry set of clothes again.

As soon as the commander had finished, Anya finally let the ribbons fall from her hands and Marie tried to catch them as they soared to the ground.

Lexa watched with an amused expression how the baby failed to catch any of the ribbons and they landed on her little head.

Clumsily, the child tried to grab them and first only managed to push them down from her features. Marie was still much more comfortable to move around crawling, so that she quickly turned onto her stomach and took a hold of the ribbons now.

The little girl had to notice herself though that she could hardly move the ribbons in her little fists next to her body if she remained on her stomach.

Anya sat down next to Marie, watching the baby play around with the ribbons a little helplessly. The little girl looked more like a stranded baby seal than anything else in this moment.

Marie crawled right over to the general until she could reach out her little chubby hands and pull herself upwards on Anya’s legs.

Anya quickly reached out and helped the little girl into a sitting position right next to her.

Marie let out a shrill and loud string of laughs as she flapped around with her arms, making the ribbons fly around. Her happiness was replaced by a sudden scowl though when Anya tried to reach out for the ribbons, wanting to play with the little girl.

“Alright, keep them to yourself” Anya said in a reassuring tone, letting her hands fall down again.

Marie’s grey eyes seemed to watch out for a few moments, before she returned to her play, filling the cave once again with her loud laughter.

Once Marie seemed to get bored by her little solo play with the ribbons, she let them fall from her hands carelessly, looking up at Anya expectantly with her large grey eyes.

When the general did not show any reaction at once, the blonde girl reached out with her short arms towards Anya, trying to take a hold on the woman’s trousers. Marie used the hold she now had, to pull herself to her feet on wobbly knees.

“She is getting more mobile” Lexa assessed with a pleased smile. They of course did not know how the group of invaders really had treated the baby, except that they could not have fed her adequately or that she got a rash under their watch. Lexa still doubted that anyone there really could have taken the time to encourage the baby to move around. The invaders must have been focused on surviving in these new surroundings and probably preferred the girl to be in one place, so that they did not have to watch over her.

Anya nodded while her brown eyes were fixed on the baby, her hands hovered around the child’s body, ready to steady her at any second if she would fall.

“I hope she does not get sick” Lexa voiced her concern for the little girl as a frown settled on her features. She knew that Nyko had left TonDC and there was no other healer in the village.

“From a little rain?” Anya retorted sceptically. She let out a slight laugh under her breath, when Marie did not try to walk, but instead was attempting to climb into her lap.

Lexa watched the child’s futile attempts in amusement. The little girl’s legs were still a little too short to be able to just climb into Anya’s lap who was sitting cross-legged on the ground. So, Marie was now trying to pull her upper body higher by pulling on Anya’s trousers, while her little legs essentially kicked at nothing when she tried to blindly search for footing.

“Why don’t you help her?” Lexa commented critically, giving the general a pointed look.

Anya shook her head in the negative “Let her try it alone”.

It took Marie a while longer to actually get up into the general’s lap and when she painstakingly had reached her goal, she looked around with her large grey eyes for a short moment. She tried to reach up with her short arm to grasp on Anya’s long hair, but the general had expected this and quickly swiped all her hair to fall down her back and out of reach of the baby.

Marie pouted up at her, turning her head around to fully look at Anya, making a discontented sound to voice her disapproval.

Before the little girl could decide to cry for what she wanted, Lexa leaned over and took the child from Anya’s lap, settling down with her across from her former mentor.

Marie was now looking up at her with her wide grey eyes.

“Hello, my little one” Lexa quietly greeted the child with a kind expression.

Marie seemed to answer in a babble of unrecognizable syllables, still looking right at Lexa.

The commander nodded her head as if she was intently listening to the child and agreeing with her.

Anya snorted lightly under her breath, imagining how Titus would most likely have a heart attack if he could see this scene right now. The general let her gaze travel through the cave. She knew that especially Gustus had at first been worried that the commander taking care of the baby girl would just lead to her strength being questioned. There were indeed still a handful of warriors carefully watching the commander’s every move. But Anya had to note that this were mostly younger warriors, none of them old enough yet to have children of their own. It seemed to her as if the more experienced and older warriors, some of them being parents themselves, only appeared more favourably impressed by their young leader.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Lexa had been right, getting the little girl to sleep was nearly hopeless for now.

The baby was hyped up and as soon as she tried to settle Marie down, the girl just began to make whining sounds until she let go of her again.

Lexa watched with a sigh as Marie crawled out from under the furs for the tenth time in a row now. As soon as the baby had gotten free of the furs, she smiled again, giving her a charming expression.

Marie held onto one of the long ears of the little plush lamb with one tiny fist, while she started to crawl away.

Anya had moved her furs in such a way now, that she was lying closer to the fire. She intercepted the baby’s way again, turning her away from the fire.

For some reason, Marie seemed enthralled by the fire currently though and all her attempts to move somewhere lead directly to the small blazing fire.

“You really need to get her to sleep” Anya commented rather drily, just as she turned around Marie again. The general had already lied down on her own furs and sat up again.

Lexa rolled her eyes at the older woman in waning patience “And what does it look like I have been doing?” she retorted frostily.

The commander’s tone got much softer as she stood up again, walked over to Marie and crouched down a slight distance from her “Come here, little one” she encouraged the baby and waited patiently.

She gave the little girl a bright smile when Marie indeed crawled right over to her, before she took her up into her arms.

Lexa settled the child into the position in which she had fallen asleep the last few days now.

Anya snorted under her breath “No wonder she refused to stay put under the furs”.

Lexa threw a slight glare at the older woman, walking back and forth a few steps as she gently rocked the little girl in her arms.

Marie seemed to fall tired very quickly now. Her grey eyes which first had been fixed on Lexa, slowly started to fall close. For a few moments the girl obviously tried to remain awake, keeping her head up forcefully.

Lexa lightly began to hum the melody of an old lullaby under her breath. She distinctly remembered the melody like a hazy dream.

Marie began to suck on one of her thumbs again and as her eyes fully closed, her head dropped down lightly against the commander’s shoulder.

Lexa still continued to rock the young girl for a few moments longer, wanting to be sure that Marie would not wake up again immediately when she tried to put her down.

“This way you will never get her to sleep without you” Anya cautioned in a critical tone from Lexa’s side.

When the commander turned to face her former mentor, the general’s brown eyes were fixed on her disapprovingly and she sighed under her breath. She knew of course that the older woman had a strong point, but she also did not wish to watch the young girl cry for what felt like endless hours until she drifted off to sleep with tear tracks on her cheeks, when she could just drift off peacefully within her arms.

As Lexa had stopped to rock Marie, the little girl wiggled for a moment. Her eyes did not open again, but she gave a cute little yawn around the thumb in her mouth, before drifted off again.

Lexa finally lied down as well, carefully keeping the hold on the baby’s body so that she would not jostle her awake again.

~ ~ ~

On the next morning, Lexa already felt that her worries about Marie’s health were warranted right before she opened her eyes. She could already feel just how hot the child’s small body was against her own.

Needlessly, Lexa placed a hand gently on the child’s forehead. She frowned deeply in reaction. The child’s temperature was way too high.

When Lexa sat up, she could already see the sweat glistening on the child’s skin which had taken on an unhealthy reddish pale hue.

Her worry only rose, when Marie did not show any signs of waking up as she gently placed her down on one of the furs.

Anya woke up just as Lexa had stood to her feet and the general stretched under her furs.

“She is sick” Lexa exclaimed curtly, looking through the cave in the hopes of seeing Alira. She knew that the older handmaid was at least versed in basic healing techniques and she herself had absolutely no idea on what to do to help the young girl.

Anya let out a slight sigh “I had hoped that she would deal better with a little bit of rain” she said in what she probably meant as an apology.

Lexa could unfortunately not spot Alira anywhere and she asked her general if she knew where the woman might be.

Anya shook her head in the negative though “Other caves around here are in use as well” she answered vaguely. She thought that their best hope would be to meet Alira back in TonDC.

Tris had just woken up as well and the girl seemed deeply sad to hear that the baby was sick. “Will she make it, Anya?” she asked her mentor with wide eyes.

The general did not give her a verbal answer though. She would not lie to her and they all knew just how deadly a disease could be to such a young child. It is not for nothing that their people had formed the habit to name their own children just after they passed their third summer and not earlier.

Lexa had caught Anya’s second’s question and her jaw tensed visibly, feeling an even higher urge to get the sick baby to someone who could help her immediately.

She quickly dressed back into her clothes, fastening the coat around herself. She did not bother to change the little girl’s clothing once again, but simply opted to wrap her small body into a soft fur before she carefully took her up into her arms.

Internally, Lexa was deeply alarmed as Marie still had shown absolutely no sign of waking up. She was not sure if she was imagining it or not, but to her it sounded as if the child’s breathing sounded laboured as her little chest rose and fell.

For a brief moment, she contemplated if it would be wiser to just search for her horse and hastily make the way back to Polis. She knew that there would be healers versed in taking care of young sick children in the capitol.

She shook her head though. The capitol was longer than a days-ride away, even if she hurried her horse. Truthfully, Lexa was not sure if the young baby would make it so long without any help. It felt as if her skin was boiling.

“I will get you help, my little one” Lexa whispered into the baby’s blonde curls, carrying her out of the cave. She knew that Anya or Gustus would take care of her belongings for her and she also did not care for them right now.

Thankfully, her horse was already waiting for her right next to the entrance of the cave. Lexa had never been more relieved to see the majestic steed and she gave the animal a thankful pat on the flank, before she mounted and already steered the horse back into a quick trot in the direction of TonDC. She could only hope now that Alira was indeed already back in the village.

Lexa hurried her horse as much as she dared through the forest, keeping a tight hold on the baby’s body in her arms. “Be strong, my little one” she almost chanted to the unconscious feverish little girl, hoping that the child would at least sense her support somehow.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

It seemed to Lexa as if the way back from the caves to TonDC took an eternity. She did not like the feeling of the little girl’s literally limp body within her arms and she could feel the heat the child emitted almost burning through her own clothes. She definitely even would have preferred Marie to cry now in discontent at not being allowed to move around than the state of sickness she now had.

She could only hope now that the commander’s tent was either still standing or had already been erected again and that she would be able to locate Alira quickly. Lexa knew that Marie needed help as soon as possible, such a high fever could not be good for the baby. She knew just how many young children her people lost to diseases like this. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if Marie’s own people might have medicine which could efficiently help safe the girl.

Lexa just reached TonDC in that moment though and she discarded the thought again. Many people had already to the village after the storm had passed the village. She could see that the damage was either still being assessed or people had begun to fix it. Huts were being repaired and thankfully her own large tent had already been erected as well.

The commander steered her horse directly in the direction of her tent. On the way, she stopped one of the young warriors carrying a few tools to help in the repairs ongoing everywhere.

The young man immediately stopped in his tracks and lowered his head respectfully as he recognized his leader.

Lexa ordered him to go and locate Alira, telling him to send the handmaid to her tent with healing supplies, prompting him that it was urgent. She dismounted her horse quickly directly in front of her tent, keeping a secure hold on the baby in her arms.

When Lexa gently pushed her red sash away from the child’s round features her brows creased in rising worry. To her it appeared is if the young girl’s skin had taken on a waxen colour. She did not have to reach out and feel Marie’s temperature to know just how high the fever was raging in the child’s body.

She stored into the commander’s tent quickly. Lexa did not know what to do now though. She could place Marie onto her bed, but for some reason Lexa was reluctant to let go of the little girl. So, she continued to cradle her small body, giving the child a gentle rocking motion in her arms, as she impatiently waited for Alira to arrive.

~ ~ ~

Once the handmaid came rushing into the commander’s tent, Lexa then had to let go of the little girl. It was obvious that the older woman first had assumed her leader to need healing. Her shortly eased expression showed obvious worry though, when Alira assessed the feverish baby.

Lexa could only watch helplessly how Alira examined the little girl. Although the older woman did not speak, Lexa did not need to hear her express just how dire the situation was.

The commander whirled around when someone else entered her tent without any acknowledgment. She let her guard drop though when she recognized that it was only Anya who apparently had reached the village with her second as well by now. Lexa actually had no idea just how long Alira was already working on the little girl. It worried her immensely that Marie had not made any kind of noises or even moved. The child had remained unconscious and showed zero reaction thus far.

“How is she?” Anya asked in a cautious tone, breaking the silence for the first time in the commander’s tent. Thus far, Lexa had observed Alira working on Marie in astute silence.

“Her fever is very high” Alira answered, barely looking up from the little girl while she tried to coax some tea down her throat, massaging it gently “She is not responding to anything…”. As the woman’s voice trailed off her frustration shown through, proving just how bad it was.

Anya rose a brow in surprise. She of course had seen that the little girl was sick, but she had honestly not expected it to be so severe. She was even more surprised when she looked over to her former second and saw her green eyes swimming suspiciously in tears. She sighed mutely under her breath. She had seen of course how the young leader had formed an emotional bond to the little girl lying on the bed and fighting for her life right now. The last time she had seen the commander shed a single tear, had been the day of Costia’s head being delivered to the commander’s bed, the day on which she had been sent from the capitol.

Once Alira stopped working on the little girl, saying lowly that now it would be on Marie to survive through the next few hours and that the fever needed to break for the baby to even have a slim chance of survival, Anya sent the handmaid away. It seemed that Lexa was not able to speak right now.

As soon as the handmaid had left them, Anya could indeed spot a tear roll down the commander’s cheek, as she carefully sat down on her bed, close to the little girl bundled up in a few soft furs. The child’s breathing was still audibly irregular and her skin was of an unhealthy hue.

“She still has a chance” Anya tried to speak some words of optimism to the visibly upset young woman. She did not reach out though and kept her distance, just observing Lexa instead.

Lexa carefully reached out, taking one of the baby’s little hands into her own, feeling the heat of her skin almost burn her own. She huffed under her breath, shooting a brief glance over her shoulder to her former mentor, expression already grief stricken “Less than 3%...” she repeated what Alira had said in a hopeless tone. As she felt another tear rolling down her cheeks, she started to hum the melody of the lullaby under her breath. She did not know if Marie could hear anything of her surrounding or not, but it had soothed the baby before.

The baby had not been with her for long, but she felt her heart break for the young girl who did not even have a chance at life.

Anya took a little step closer to Lexa, gently letting one hand rest on the younger woman’s shoulder, hoping to express her concern wordlessly. She did not know what to say which could lighten the situation. The general already knew that they had a few very long hours ahead of themselves now, hoping that the little girl’s health would improve. A small part of her acknowledged that they also might just have to watch her little chest stop rising and falling as she lost her fight.

~ ~ ~

Anya had no idea just how often she had now already listened to the commander hum the melody of this lullaby to the unconscious little girl. It was honestly slowly starting to grant on her nerves. But she knew that it gave a little comfort to Lexa, so, she held her tongue.

She would stay with Lexa now like she had stayed with her while she grieved for Costia. Anya had set her expression in a stoic mask. She was sorry for the little girl, but she knew that the young commander would need her strength when the child indeed died.

Lexa just began to hum the lullaby from anew. The few single tears she had shed some time ago, had long dried on her cheeks and although her mind was in turmoil and she knew that her people may need her outside of her tent, she refused to leave Marie’s bedside.

It took her a moment to notice that the melody she was humming was off. She threw another glance at Anya, but the general’s expression of calm stoicism had also morphed into slight surprise.

Lexa’s eyes widened when she realized that the only source of another hum could be Marie. When she gazed down at the young girl, she felt her heart give a happy lurch at being with large grey eyes peering up at her.

Lexa let out an involuntary sob, as her heart overflowed with happiness and she was powerless to stop a bout of fresh tears, this time not from sadness, but utter relief and joy. She knew that the baby waking up was a very good sign.

The commander felt Anya giving her shoulder a slight squeeze, saying that she would summon Alira again to take another look at her young patient, before the general disappeared.

Lexa smiled down at the blonde girl “Oh, my little one…” was the only thing she said for a moment.

Marie had freed her other arm from the furs and stretched out her short chubby arms in a clear wish to be picked up.

Carefully, Lexa extracted the little girl from the furs before she took her up into her arms. She smiled even brighter when the child seemed almost melt in her arms, babbling what sounded like an “’ov’ yo’” before she rested her little head on her shoulder again in exhaustion.


End file.
